Captivity
by HiKari Mokuba's Guardian
Summary: There are some things that I'd never tell Seto, times I'd rather not re-live. I don't want him to know what happened, when I was kidnapped by Pegasus during Duelist Kingdom. But being a captive, being a prisoner, it still gives me nightmares...
1. Chapter 1: Wake Up Call

Chapter 1: Wake Up Call

He was gone. Before I knew it, my brother had left with little to no explanation. He said very few things before he had left, all of which I couldn't quite understand. Seto said he needed to find himself; that he didn't know who he was anymore, that his duel with Yugi had messed him up. But how did it mess him up? Why did he feel the need to leave? I didn't understand any of this. What I didn't understand the most was why he had to leave me.

I would've gladly gone with him. Assisted him in whatever he needed, followed him to the ends of the earth until he had truly found what he was looking for. But he was gone before I had even known I had lost him. Before I could run after him and keep him from leaving me.

That same afternoon, I had rushed to keep up with him. I was desperate for answers, and was hoping that he would let me come with him. I followed him all the way out to his helicopter, where I had grabbed his arm and wouldn't let go. Seto continued to ignore me, and even shoved me off just before he got on his helicopter to leave. It didn't hurt, but the idea of it did. That was when I stood still, staring at him, and watching him get ready before he lifted off the building.

I stood there for hours; it seemed, staring into that big blue sky above, wondering when my big brother would come back to me. I imagined him coming back to the platform and hugging me tightly, telling me how sorry he was for how he acted. Then we would proceed to get off the roof, leave Kaiba Corp. and go home. If only things could be that simple.

Finally, I had given up on the idea that my brother was going to come back and got off the roof. As I was walking down the stairway, my head began to fill with anxiety. What was I going to do while Seto was gone? Who was going to take care of me? I knew Isono was always going to be there, but it wouldn't be the same. Isono was just my butler; Seto was my guardian. Was I going to have to be sent to an orphanage?

As I continued to walk, my mind went frantic as flashes from the orphanage came back to my mind. In reality, the orphanage hadn't been that bad. But to have to go back there alone? It wouldn't have been the same without my big brother there by my side. The possibilities and worry clouded my mind, but the sound of voices from the meeting room brought me back to reality.

I stopped in mid-step and turned to the side. I heard voices coming from inside the Big 5's main meeting room. It sounded as if there was some sort of meeting going on. I slowly crept up towards the door slowly and opened it slightly. Only one of my eyes was able to glimpse inside the room, but it was enough to see what was going on. The Big 5 were all seated at the round table, but what confused me was the other man who was sitting with his back towards me. He looked strangely familiar, at least from what I saw from behind. He had long silver hair; my mind already had the idea that this man might have been Maximillion Pegasus, considering there was only one man I knew of that had hair like that.

They were discussing some kind of evil plot. I tried to remain completely still as they began to explain their detailed plan. They were talking about Seto and how he had left. The Big 5 sounded as if they were trying to do something in his absence… they wanted to take over Kaiba Corp! That was when I heard my name being discussed as well. I began to back away from the door slowly, until I backed right into one of Pegasus henchmen.

The large man grabbed me before I could escape. I started kicking and yelling, trying to break free of his grasp. He only smiled at my failed attempts to escape, carrying me back into the meeting room and holding me in a tight grip. I glared at him, Pegasus was presenting me to the Big 5 as if I were some sort of trophy, the Big 5 nodded as they stared at me.

"So do we have a deal?" Pegasus asked the men standing before him. The Big 5 looked at one another, before eyeing me once more, and turning back to Pegasus.

"I believe we do, Mr. Pegasus," Lector stated. One by one they shook Pegasus's hand before leaving the room. I stared at them with betrayed eyes, they were my brother's most trusted employees and now they planned to help Pegasus take over. I looked away; too disgusted to even look in their direction any longer.

When they had all left, Pegasus turned towards me. "It's so very nice to see you, Mokuba boy, it's been a while, hasn't it?" I glared at him.

"You'll never get away with this Pegasus, my brother is going to come back and bring you down." Pegasus laughed at me, and placed his hand under my chin, forcing my face up to look at him.

"That's where you're wrong, young Mokuba." I shook my head out of his grasp.

"He's going to come back! You're not going to win." Pegasus snapped his fingers and called forth the man, whom was holding me, to his attention.

"Kemo."

"Yes boss?"

"Take the necessary procedures."

"Right away, Sir." Procedures? What were they talking about? The first thing that came to my mind was and scientific experiment. I started to freak out, and became very restless. I didn't want to be sliced open! I wanted to live! Then Kemo lifted his hand, a cloth draped over his palm. "Nighty night, Mokuba Kaiba." He shoved the cloth over my mouth. I held my breath for as long as I could, but it was no use. My body became numb and my head started to black out. The last thing I saw was Pegasus's smiling face.

* * *

I was standing across from my older brother, my heart slowly tearing in two as I looked into his face to see if it was real. "Take this kid," Seto tosses a card across the room, and I quickly catch it, "It was always your favorite." I didn't understand what this meant. What was Seto doing?

"I'm going away for a while, Mokuba." His words stung. My eyes began to water. This couldn't be happening. Why would my big brother want to leave me?

"But… why? Why do you have to go?" I begged. I shook my head slowly, trying to pretend it wasn't happening.

"Because I don't know who I am anymore." I looked at the card in my hand; it was the card my brother had tossed to me earlier. I threw it to the ground and looked back up at Seto.

"Nii-sama, I don't want this card! I want you to stay!"

"I'm sorry Mokuba, but I've already made my decision. Good luck." Seto picked up the brief case that was beside him and headed towards the door. But I wasn't going to let him get away, not like I had last time. He wasn't going to leave me. I reached forward and grabbed him by the arm.

"I don't think you understand, Nii-sama. Pegasus is going to try and take over the company! He's going to kidnap me!" I looked back up at my brother's face, but there were no signs of any concern or care for any of the information I was giving him. Why wasn't he surprised? Why wasn't he worried? "Nii-sama… don't you care?"

"Come on, Mokuba. You're a Kaiba, can't you fight your own battles?" As if it was even my battle to take on! But still Seto's face was unmoved, emotionless. The face he put on for the rest of the world was now facing me. His icy blue eyes were cold, and my grip on his arm began to loosen.

"Nii-sama…" Seto took back his arm as if he were insulted that I had even touched it.

"You're not a baby anymore, Mokuba. You can figure this out on your own." Seto turned his back on me. This time I didn't attempt to hold him back, I didn't even say anything to try and convince him to stay. It was obvious how Seto truly felt about me now. I just wished that it wasn't true.

"Stay safe, Mokuba." I looked up once more at my brother; his back was still turned towards me. "When all this is done, we'll be together again." I didn't understand. How could Seto go from hating me, to suddenly saying we would be together again?

Seto started walking away. I tried running towards him, but couldn't seem to get any closer. No, Seto just kept drifting farther and farther away from me no matter how fast I ran. Suddenly a black hole appeared beneath me and I fell into an endless pit of darkness.

* * *

When I awoke, I was in a bed. There was a strange man that was knelt by my bedside; his eyes were staring at me from behind his sunglasses. "I'm glad to see that you're awake. You were knocked out for two days, we were beginning to worry." I groaned, rolling over to my side. The moment I did, I felt like throwing up. The fact that the room looked like it was spinning wasn't helping. I was beginning to feel light headed, and very dizzy.

"Where…?" I turned my head slightly to look back over at the man in the sunglasses. The man stood up on his feet and looked down at me. He offered a glass of water to me as he spoke.

"Here, drink this." I stared at it, but had no energy to make an effort to drink the liquid. The man put one arm under my back and pushed my body up into a sitting position. He slowly put the cup to my mouth and let the liquid slip down my throat. I was surprisingly thirsty, so I allowed the man to continue this until the glass was empty. He placed the cup on the ground and looked back at me. "My name is Croquet, and I will be the one you'll see the most while you are under Master Pegasus's watchful eye."

My heart stopped and I pushed him away. "You work for him! You work for Pegasus!" I yelled, flailing my arms to try and keep him from coming close to me, "Get away from me!" I needed to get out of here, I needed to get away from Croquet. But my body wouldn't allow me to move very efficiently, so I ended up flinging myself onto the floor, unable to get up. Croquet knelt down beside me to help me back up, but I refuse. "I said, STAY AWAY!"

The sound of a door opening occurred, and I looked up from my rather pathetic position to see Kemo walk in, and another man walk in. My blood boiled when I recognized that man to be Pegasus. "Enjoying your stay so far?" He asked. I rolled onto my hands and pushed off the floor towards him, but only managed to fall to the floor once again at Pegasus's feet. What was going on with my body? Why was I so weak? "It may take a while for you to recover your strength. It seems my friend Kemo here accidently exposed you to bit too much chloroform, so you may feel this way for another 24 hours or so."

Kemo was staring down at me, his face told me he didn't do it back accident. If anything, he had meant to do that. Pegasus glanced at Croquet and signaled him to hold me up towards him. Croquet nodded and did so as Pegasus commanded, forcing me to look at him as if I were standing up by myself. I didn't give him a happy face, though. "The moment I get my strength back, I'm going to pop you straight in the face," I spat. Pegasus raised his eyebrow in surprise, I was a little surprised myself by the sentence that I had just said. But I was angry, and my mind felt like it was trapped in a handicapped body. It wasn't a pleasant feeling whatsoever.

"Oh come now Mokuba-boy, there's no need to be so harsh."

"You're never going to win!" Suddenly Pegasus's hand was raised in the air and slapped me across the face. My head twisted to the side, and I let out a cry of pain. My cheek felt like it was burning within seconds, and my neck was sore from the unexpected twist it had endured. I slowly twisted my head back and looked back up at him with fearful eyes. I hadn't expected him to hurt me, was he going to continue to do this to me?

"We'll see about that," he said, massaging the hand he had used to slap me, "But for now, you best get some rest. We have some business to attend to, but not a second before you have recovered to full health." Pegasus turned away and left the room just like that. Kemo gave me a threatening look before doing the same. Croquet shifted my body and carried me back over to the bed, where he placed me down on to rest.

"I'll be back here tomorrow morning with your breakfast," he said plainly. Then he had left the room as well, only this time he locked it after he had closed the door. Now I was really starting to feel like I was trapped. I wanted to move around, I needed to think of a plan, but instead my body found itself releasing energy and slowly leading me to shut my eyes. I couldn't sleep now... I needed to find a way out...

"Nii-sama..." I whispered quietly before letting the sleep completely take over my body.

* * *

**A/N:** _Hey guys! Here's a new chapter story coming your way! And just you wait, cause there's another one to come in the next day or so! I'm going to try something new and try to write both these babies at the SAME TIME. Won't that be exciting? I'm planning on doing it where I update one story, and then update the other, and just switch off every time. I hope this won't annoy people, don't ask me why I feel the need to do it. I just felt like doing it!:D So look out for a new story coming your way soon, and find out what's yet to come to our poor hero as he's held captive by one of the most devilishly evil villains out there! I hope you liked what you read so far!_

_P.S: Sorry if my first person is a little awkward in the beginning, or through-out the whole chapter. I haven't written in first person in a while, but I'm starting to get the hang of it, so just bare with me and I'll be better soon!  
_


	2. Chapter 2: The Perfect Plan

Still-Citylights: Thanks for the review! I'm looking forward to hearing more of what you think so without further ado, here's chapter 2!

AmePiper: Ame darling! I've missed you so! Thanks for the review! It sure does feel good to be back and replying to reviews. I tell ya, it just wasn't the same writing fics without a review reply here and there, especially one that involves you. No need to worry about replying to my e-mail; just sit back, relax, and enjoy the next chapter!

Chapter 2: The Perfect Plan

I woke up the next morning with a fright because I wasn't sure where I was at first. But as I looked around the room, the memories of yesterday started to come back to me and I began to realize I was no longer in my room, but under Pegasus's rule. I got up to observe the room, or should I say prison cell, when I made another realization that I was feeling a lot better than I had the day before.

The dizziness was gone, I no longer felt light-headed, and my strength had finally come back to me. I sighed, and sat back down on the bed. The fact that I felt better didn't compensate for the fact that Pegasus had kidnapped me. How was I going to get back home? Was I going to get back home? The last question that came to my mind was; Where is Seto?

I wasn't able to think about this long, because the same man, I think his name was Croquet, from yesterday walked into the room with a tray in his hands. "Ah, you're up. That's a good sign. How do you feel?" I was surprised to hear him say this, considering Pegasus's other henchman seemed to get pleasure out of hurting me.

"I'm okay," I said with a soft voice. He placed the tray beside me on the nightstand. My eyes glanced at the plate, and my stomach growled. There were pancakes, bacon, and eggs, all arranged perfectly. I was craving food; I almost forgot how hungry I was.

"Good," Croquet said, "Master Pegasus will be meeting with you shortly after you finish your meal this morning." I glared at him; I took back the thought of this guy actually caring about my well-being.

"And if I refuse?" I said.

"It wouldn't be advisable," Croquet said in a somewhat threatening voice. I turned my head the opposite way; I no longer desired to even look at him. Croquet didn't seem to mind. "I'll be back in an hour or so to take you to meet with Pegasus." Croquet left the room, and left me to eat on my own.

I picked up the fork and started eating slowly. My stomach was so empty that putting food into it was a strange feeling at first. But I forced the food down, knowing I needed to eat even though my stomach was strongly resisting at this point. My mind wandered back to thoughts of Seto once more.

_"Since I lost my duel with Yugi, I'm not sure what I think anymore." _His words echoed through my mind. _"Everything's different, I feel like I lost a piece of myself that day." _I tried to hold back the tears that desperately wanted to come as I kept funneling food into my throat. I missed him, and I wanted him back. I had always believed in my brother, but now I didn't know what to believe. This wasn't like him to just leave me. If anyone was to blame, it was Yugi. It was all Yugi's fault for messing up my brother!

I placed the fork down when I was down and swallowed hard the last bit of food that was in my mouth. Crying and eating didn't work well together, but I was proud that I could hold back my tears, at least for this time. In that moment, I vowed that when I got the chance, I would bring Yugi down for what he had done to my brother.

Croquet opened the door once again not too much later, and commanded me to follow him. He kept a close eye on me as we walked through the castle; I suppose he thought I was going to run off somewhere. In the back of my head, I knew escape was definitely an option, but I was curious to see what Pegasus wanted to speak with me about.

"Master Pegasus, I have brought the boy," Croquet said, once he walked into a rather large dining room. Pegasus was sitting at the end of an extremely long table. He appeared to be reading a comic of some sort before he looked up at me with his one eye.

"Ah, Mokuba-boy, there you are! Sit down, sit down." I did as he said and sat down at the opposite end of the long table. "It's sounds as if you slept well last night." I said nothing; I didn't want to say anything. Pegasus looked as though he were waiting for me to respond, but dismissed the idea when he saw I wasn't going to talk.

"Well then, let's move on, shall we?" He said, clapping his hands together, "I'm not sure whether you are aware of this, but right now you are on the island in which the Duelist Kingdom tournament has already begun. I have brought you here for one reason, and one reason only. Kemo." Kemo stepped forth and placed a piece of paper in front of me.

"You see, Mokuba, I need something from you. I'm sure you are aware that with your brother gone, that means that you're next in line to run Kaiba Corp.-"

"That's only if my brother's dead. Just because he's… absent, doesn't mean he's not the rightful owner still!" I yelled, interrupting him completely. Pegasus looked very unpleased, but continued.

"I am aware of what state you must be in to run a company, so I took care of your brother's 'absence' and changed it to 'deceased.'" I slammed my hands down on the table.

"That's not true! My brother's not dead!"

"Oh, but he is, Mokuba. He is. I have already sent my men on their way to kill him." My eyes widened, could this be true? Could my brother really be dead? No. He couldn't possibly be dead. Not yet, at least. My brother was smarter than that. I'm guessing Pegasus didn't know my brother that well, cause it would take a lot more than a couple of henchmen to bring Seto down.

"So since you are now in charge of Kaiba Corp., I'll just need to sign some of these legal documents in order to transfer ownership to me. That's all you need to do for me. Besides, I thinking you could sign it in exchange for my humble hospitality." Kemo walked over to me once again and placed a pen beside the form in front of me. I stared at him.

"Hospitality? Yeah right. YOU kidnapped ME. Remember?"

"And if I hadn't, who would've taken care of you? You should be thanking me for all that I'm doing. After all, it's not like I'm going to walk out on you like your brother did." I stood up.

"You shut up! I'll never sign it! You'll never get Kaiba Corp." Now Pegasus looked mad.

"Kemo!" Pegasus commanded. Kemo came up from behind me and restrained me by grabbing both my arms and lifting me into the air. I started moving all around in an attempt to get out, but he simply twisted my arms back into an uncomfortable position and held me there until my arms started to ache and I finally stopped.

Pegasus motioned Kemo to bring me over to him. Kemo did as Pegasus had asked until I was only a couple feet away from him. Pegasus stood up. "Keep this in mind, young Kaiba, that you won't be leaving this castle until you sign that form. Kaiba Corp. WILL be mine."

"Over my dead body!" I hissed. Kemo looked down at me with eyes that glowed with optimism. Maybe that was going a bit too far. Apparently Pegasus was feeling the same way, since he had the same look on his face as well. He put his hands behind his back before turning away.

"Believe me, Mokuba, we can arrange that," Pegasus said, "In the mean time, you can think about my offer while I take care of Yugi." Yugi? Now what would Pegasus want with Yugi?

"What do you mean?" I asked, I simply had to know how Yugi fit into this whole plan. Was Yugi in on this as well? No, he couldn't be. He wasn't involved with Industrial Illusions at all… was he?

"Well, it's just another piece of the puzzle to my Kaiba Corp. take over, you see. Not only do I have to force you into signing that little form of mine, but I also have to defeat Yugi in order to restore the reputation of Kaiba Corp. But that shouldn't prove to be too hard, since he's already fallen into my trap by entering this tournament. It's only a matter of time before he's defeated!" Pegasus gave out a loud and glorious laugh. My heart raced. Yugi also had to be defeated? I had to stop this somehow!

Pegasus flicked his hand in the air. "Take him away, Kemo. I grow tire of his presence." Kemo nodded and began to drag me down the hall. I glared at Pegasus the whole way until we left the room, just as Kemo twisted my arm back into another painful position.

"Ow!" I yelped. Kemo stopped, but instead of letting me go, he slammed my face straight into the concrete wall. My face felt like it had been broken into five hundred little pieces and began to burn like crazy. A massive headache was already beginning to develop, and I could feel blood slowly dripping down my face from my forehead.

"Listen up, punk, cause I don't have tolerance for kids, especially not kids like you. I just want to give you a little preview of what's going to happen to you if you ever try to escape from here." Before I knew it, Kemo launched a punch right into my gut and let it sink in hard. I yelled from the pain, saliva spewing from my mouth. Kemo pulled back his arm and let me fall to the ground, watching me with amusement as I lay there in pain.

"How does that feel Mr. Kaiba Corp.? Going to give it up now and sign that form?" I, although in massive pain, shook my head slowly. I was never going to give up Kaiba Corp. to those monsters. Kaiba Corp. meant so many things, especially to Seto, and I wasn't going to let him down just because a couple of thugs beat me up. I was stronger than that; at least I hoped I was. No matter how dark the situation seemed, my alliance would always remain with brother.

Kemo grabbed the back of my collar on my shirt and lifted me back up, continuing to drag me all the way until we reached my room. Or should I say prison cell? Either way, he opened the door and shoved me to the ground. "Pegasus might not want to hurt you, but I'm not afraid to do it. So you better watch out, because I'm going to come down on you like a ton of bricks if you don't start doing what we want." He slammed the door closed and left me to lie on the floor, in pain.

I lay there for a couple minutes, letting the pain gradually start to fade away. But even when most of it seemed to have gone, the moment I tried to move the rest of my body and get up, it still hurt. Kemo was a big guy; and by the way he punched, I was pretty sure he could break my spine if he wanted to. It was a scary thought, considering the last lecture he had just given me after he had beaten me up.

I sat up and looked around. Although Kemo's wrath was something to be feared, the idea of escape was something I took quite a liking too. That's when I got the idea. I would escape to the island! I'd escape, find Yugi, and beat him before Pegasus even got the chance! I smiled; it was the perfect plan. But as I continued to look around the room for ideas, I realized I didn't have a lot of options.

I slowly wandered over to the window and looked down. It was a long jump from here to the ground. It looked as though I was in some sort of tower. I turned back towards the room, trying to look more closely at details to see what I could find. But the room was pretty much empty. There wasn't much in it except a bed, a nightstand, and the blankets and sheets. And idea came to mind. The sheets! I would tie all the sheets together to make a rope down the tower! I had seen so many people on TV do it, I'm sure I could.

So as the sun began to set, and after Croquet commanded me to sleep, I stayed up late into the night executing my plan. I snickered thinking of Croquet's face when he would come in the next morning, only to find me gone and on my way to defeat Yugi!

They'd never seen it coming.

* * *

**A/N:** _Hey guys! Kari here once more! Just another chapter to the newest addition to a HiKari mutli-chapter story!(although if you're looking for more, there's 'Falling Short' too, but that's just another story!) So I'm really excited to get this story rolling cause I have a lot of great ideas. I promise to not make this boring and go word by word with the next chapter, since we're all pretty sure where this is heading. After that chapter it should return to its regular originality. You just gotta bare with me for right now. Anyhow, hope you liked it! Review!_


	3. Chapter 3: Escape! From The Castle

xblackrosefirex: Seto kind of is the most dramatic character(either that or the one with the most emotional/mental issues) Yeah, I like my Mokuba, he's my favorite character. I have a whole lot of cool stuff planned out for this story, so just you wait! Thanks for the review!

AmePiper: I am mean to Mokuba, aren't I? The poor kid, and yet I love him so! My little baby-kins... anyhow, thanks for the review! I'm sorry I'm kind of updating like crazy, I hope you'll forgive me. Stay cool, Ame! Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 3: Escape! From The Castle

I had worked all through the night, and finally my plan was about to be executed. I tied the rope I had made out of sheets to one of the metal legs holding up the bed. I tugged on it a bit to see if it was stable, and tied it an extra time to be safe. I put on my purple ski hat, and tied my blue hanker chief over my mouth. If I was going down there, I couldn't risk being caught. I knew Kemo would be on patrol, so it was somewhat of a risk.

I smiled with satisfaction when I thought of my grand escape, this was going to work. I knew it was going to work. Then worry came to my mind; it just had to work. I needed to get out of here to beat Yugi and save Kaiba Corp. I shook my head; this was no time to think. I had to get out of here before they knew what I was going to do.

I threw the rope out the window and down the side of the castle tower. Slowly, I climbed onto the window sill myself, grasping onto the rope tightly, and slowly made my way down. I bounced off the wall a bit to move a bit quicker, anxiety was starting to get the best of me and I imagined that Croquet would be in my room at any moment and discover me. I jumped all the way down till there was no more sheets to hold onto. I looked down and saw that there was still a couple hundred feet to go. I gulped; how did I not see this coming? I wanted to smack myself in the head for being so stupid.

Then the sheet started to come undone. I looked up and the sheet I was holding onto was being untied. My eyes widened and before I could do anything, it broke away and I went falling. I shut my eyes and held my breath; I was going to die. I was so going to die. All I could think was 'I'm going to die, I'm going to die...' My back smacked against the branch of a tree after falling through some leaves, and there were more branches to come as I was falling through the forest. Finally I fell to the ground and it had stopped. I slowly crawled out from the bush I had fallen into and held my back.

"Ow..." I said quietly, rubbing my back. That... hurt. My eyes widened as I looked down. I was... alive. I was alive! I wanted to jump with glee and shout to the world how happy I was, but just then I spotted a duelist near by, and I snuck into the shadows of the bushes once more. I smirked, the kid had know idea what was about to come. Just as he had passed in front of me, I sprinted out and tackled him to the ground.

"Hey, what the-" I shoved my hand over his mouth and grabbed his deck and star chips from his pocket. I lept off him, and looked around for another place to hide. The kid looked angry, he had his fists in the air. "Give that back! That's my deck, you jerk!" I wasn't afraid, I knew I could take him if I needed to.

"Not anymore," I said, knowing that my actions were similar to what my brother would've done in the same situation.

"Hey, what's going on over here?" I twisted around. That sounded like Kemo.

"Thief! Thief! That kid stole my deck!" The kid shouted in protest, luring Kemo closer to where I was standing. I quickly jumped back into the bushes and disappeared from site. I wanted to watch the kid and see if Kemo would believe his story about some kid stealing his deck, but I knew that would be to dangerous. I had to get out of there and fast. Plus there was the fact that I needed to find Yugi. I had a score to settle with that guy. I had a deck and star chips, so all I needed to do was run into him, challenge him to a duel, and let the battle for revenge begin. Yugi was going to pay dearly.

I shuffled my way through the bushes and the concealed darkness of the forest. I kept away from formal pathways and any place that was lit with sunlight. I felt like some sort of ninja with my disguise and with the routes I was taking to get around. I always made sure to keep quiet, but to also move at a quick pace. I looked up ahead, and soon I spotted a dueling field near by. I smiled once again; this would be the perfect place to await my prey.

I finally sat down and waited. I knew this would probably be the most difficult part of my mission; waiting for Yugi. But I was determined, and I had not only revenge on my mind, but my duty to my brother and Kaiba Corp. I knew that if I beat Yugi, it would prevent Pegasus from taking over. No matter what happened, I couldn't lose this duel. So I waited patiently as morning made its way and afternoon approached. A couple people had passed through, but not Yugi. I sighed, this was harder than I thought.

I kept thinking of my brother, and how happy he would be once he heard about what I had done for the company. He would surely be pleased with my work. I just hoped he was doing okay, wherever he was. Most people would think that the hardest part about being kidnapped by a deranged psycho is the fact that you're being held captive against your will. But really, I found that the hardest part was missing my brother. I wished I could see him again.

Then I heard some voices, more people coming my way. I peeked out through the bushes and saw that Yugi was walking along with three other people. My thoughts of my brother were pushed aside. It was time to reveal myself.

"AHA! Yugi! I knew I would find you!" I said, pointing my finger at him. Yugi looked surprised, but the others just seemed confused.

"We're not here to play, kid, we're looking for someone who stole a deck..." Joey said, uninterested in my threatening tone. Tea eyed me suspiciously.

"Hey guys, I think this might actually be our guy! That kid said the boy who took his deck was wearing a purple ski mask and hanker chief! This must be him!" I stood up right, staring only at Yugi and ignoring most of the others.

"Yugi, I challenge you to a duel!" I demanded. I was not going to take no for an answer. Joey now looked annoyed, and Tristan seemed more surprised than before.

"A duel? Don't you know who this guy is?"

"Of course I know who he is, he's Yugi Muto! And now he's just been challenged to a duel. So what's it going to be, Yugi?" I asked, trying to keep up my tough guy look. Tristan shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Look kid, it's cute that you think you can take him, but we have other things to do."

"Yeah, Yugi will just wipe the floor wit ya anyway." Yugi took a couple steps forward, staring me down.

"I accept your challenge." The other three gasped as I chuckled.

"Good. Let's do this." I ran over to the dueling field and got onto the platform on the opposite side of Yugi. His friends seemed shocked that he took me up on my offer, but I knew I wouldn't have let him go anywhere if he had refused.

"Yugi, why are you going to duel this guy? He's just a kid! You know you can beat him!" Tea said.

"Don't worry guys, this'll just take a second," Yugi said, before suddenly there was a flash of light, and he seemed like an entirely different person. I was a little thrown off; Yugi looked kind of different, and his voices sounded deeper. His eyes looked more determined, and looked at me in a different way. I shook my head as I placed my deck down, I wasn't going to let anything distract me from what I had to do. I was going to beat Yugi and make him suffer for what he had done. Yugi placed his deck down as well.

"Duel!" We said at the same time. The battle was just about to begin. Cards were thrown down, and monsters were destroyed, but I kept my spirits up against all odds. The only thing that bothered me was the way that Yugi kept looking at me, as if he was trying to figure out who I was. He would never figure it out though, and I was going to beat him in a duel! Yugi destroyed another one of my monsters, and that was when I realized things were no longer looking too good for me. I was losing!

"Give it up kid! Yugi's too good for you!" Tristan said. I growled with annoyance.

"I'll never give up! You're going to pay for what you did to my big brother!" Yugi stared at me, and then closed his eyes like he were meditating.

"Ah... I see now. I thought I sensed Kaiba deep within your soul... You're related to Seto Kaiba, you're his brother." I took a step back. How could he sense Seto in my soul? Was that even possible? I pulled down my hanker chief and threw my hat off my head.

"That's right, Seto Kaiba is my older brother." Yugi's three cheerleaders gasped when they made the connection. "And now Yugi, you're going to pay for what you did to him."

"I don't understand what you're talking about, Mokuba. I haven't done anything to Kaiba." I threw my fists down onto the playing monitor.

"Don't be stupid! You know exactly what you did!" I looked down at my clenched fists, holding back tears, "When you defeated him, everything went wrong. He got all confused... and then he left! He left me because of you! And when he left, Pegasus kidnapped me! Now he's trying to take over Kaiba Corp... the company my brother worked so hard to gain. It means everything to him. And I won't let Pegasus take it from him!"

"What do you mean, Mokuba?" Yugi asked.

"What would Pegasus want with Kaiba Corp.?" Joey asked.

"Don't you get it, Yugi? Pegasus plans to beat you in a duel and then take over Kaiba Corp.! That's why I'm going to defeat you, so Pegasus doesn't even have the chance." But the truth was, it didn't look like I was going to have a chance if I kept dueling. I was going to lose for sure, my deck was too weak and Yugi was simply too strong. I had to think up a new plan, I had to make sure Yugi never made it into Pegasus's castle! That's when a new idea came to my mind.

Yugi and the rest of his friends began discussing what could possibly be behind Pegasus's actions, just as I had stalked away from the dueling arena. I ran the back way around and up to where Yugi was standing. Just before he noticed I was gone, I had snatched a couple of his star chips and jumped off the dueling platform.

"Now you'll never get into Pegasus's castle!" I yelled back, running as fast as I could.

"Hey! He stole Yugi's star chips too!" I heard Tristan yell, he and Joey were going to come after me most likely. Which only meant I would have to run faster than ever before. I knew that if either of them got a hold of me, my plan would be ruined and I would have to give Yugi his star chips back.

"Hold on, Mokuba! This is no way to save Kaiba Corp.!" Yugi yelled from behind me. I stopped, only because I was so angry that the very person who had caused this whole mess was actually trying to give me advice on what to do. I looked back towards him. "Kaiba is just confused! He only left because he didn't know what to do. When I defeated him, I destroyed the darkness within him, but also revealed to him that his pathway in life wasn't the right one. Now he must search his heart for the answers, so he can be led onto the right pathway once again." And just like that, somehow, it had made sense. I stood there, baffled. Yugi's words, although I didn't fully understand them, made sense.

I looked down at the star chips in hand, unsure what to do with them. I no longer felt the desire to take them from Yugi, but I still wanted to save Kaiba Corp. Which way was the right way? I found myself looking back up at Yugi for answers. "What do I do?" I asked. Yugi held out his hand to me in friendship and understanding.

"Trust me. We can defeat Pegasus together! I promise I will help you and your brother, but first you must return the star chips and deck you have stolen." I nodded my head. Yugi was right. This wasn't the way to go about doing this. I smiled at him, I knew Yugi meant the words that he said and it was the most kindness anyone had shown me in the past week since all this madness had begun.

"We need to hurry if we're going to get those star chips and cards back to that kid!" Tea stated, "The boat is going to be leaving soon!" Yugi jumped off the platform and towards where the rest of us were standing.

"Let's go!" They said in unison. Yugi looked towards me, as if to make sure I was going to join them. I nodded and raced after them as we made our way towards the docks. I knew Yugi was on my side now, he was going to keep his promise to me.

* * *

**A/N:** _Uw! This is starting to get exciting! I hope you guys didn't feel like I was rushing this. I mean, I felt that, but I hope I'm not doing it to the point where it, ya know, is annoying. I just want to get through this part so I can do some more original scenes and such. Hopefully the next chapter will be the last of the actual show and I can start making up my own little scenes again. But anyway, I look forward to writing the next chapter and I hope you do too! I'm really exciting about where this is going! See ya on the flip side!_

_P.S: I was making fun of Panic! At the Disco with this chapter title... didn't they take out that exclamation point anyway? Gosh, the things emo kids cry over these days..._


	4. Chapter 4: For the Price of Freedom

Still-Citylights: Thanks for the review! Enjoy the chapter!

AmePiper: Hahaha, I loved how you referenced one of my stories. That was pretty awesome. This chapter is yet another according to the episode chapter, but after this it should be a little more original. Although my chapter isn't exactly according to the book, but yeah. I wish I had more to say, but it seems my mind is slightly burnt at the moment. Boy troubles can do that to you sometimes. But thanks for your review!

Rena Redhead: Don't think you're off the hook just because I posted this. CAUSE YOUR NOT! Lol, I'm kidding. I couldn't resist, I simply had to post the chapter. I was too eager to start on chapter 5(a.k.a: TORTURE CHILDREN CHAPTER) So yeah, get excited for that one. Oh, civil-ness and hypocracy... I like that. It makes my fic sound all the more cool. And P.S: It totally is Yugi's fault. All his fault, all of it. I'm sorry for this crappy review response, my brain isn't functioning at full capacity right now. But hey, I'm sure this new chapter will make things all better! Thanks for the review!

Chapter 4: For the Price of Freedom

We started to approach the dock, but it was already apparent that the boat had left without us. The boy was gone; he had been kicked off the island. I felt immense guilt already, but didn't want to give up in hopes of righting my wrong. I ran over to the man present on the dock.

"Sir! Call back the boat! That boy… I have his star chips, they're right here!" I said, holding them out towards the man. The man said nothing, all he did was chuckle. He twisted around quickly and knocked the star chips out of my hand. I watched as the tiny chips went flying through the air and fell right into the water. When I looked back up at the man, I became aware that he was Kemo.

I tried to run, but he was too quick and grabbed me before I could run. He held me in a head lock that was all too familiar. "Gotcha!" He said in success. "Pegasus has been looking for you, thought you were clever didn't you? Well, you're going right back to where you belong!"

"No!" I yelled in protest.

"Hold it right there!" Yugi called, holding his finger out towards Kemo, "I will not allow you to take that boy!"

"Oh? And what are you going to do about it, tough guy?" Kemo asked. I was hoping Yugi wasn't planning on actually fighting him, because really Yugi was half his size. But it looked like he had another idea.

"I challenge you to a duel! If I win, Mokuba is set free." Kemo looked as though he found this to be funny. Didn't he know who Yugi Muto was?

"Alright then, a duel it is. But I won't be the one dueling you, I'll have someone duel you in my place. Someone you might find familiar."

"Fine by me, I'll duel you anytime in any place."

"Great. How about right now, and right over there?" Kemo pointed to a dueling arena not too far off from where we were standing. Yugi nodded and let Kemo lead the way. Kemo placed me down and pulled me along. He squeezed my wrist hard as we walk, nearly sending me to my knees. "And when this is all done, you're going to pay for escaping."

I glared at him, I wasn't scared of him. I knew Yugi wasn't going to lose, Yugi was the best duelist there was, I didn't understand how Kemo thought he actually had a chance. Although it did make me wonder who was going to duel in his place.

When we came near the dueling arena, it appeared as though the opponent was already standing on the platform, waiting for Yugi. I looked to see who it was myself and was surprised to see a man… who looked just like my brother! I shook my head in disbelief.

"Hello Yugi, good to see you again," The man said in a creepy voice.

"Who… who are you?" Yugi asked, staring at the man with confusion.

"It's Seto Kaiba! Can't you tell? Only it's not the Seto Kaiba you once knew, because the Seto Kaiba you knew is now dead. We took care of that. Now this is his ghost." I looked up at Kemo.

"What? You have to be kidding me! My brother isn't dead and that's not his ghost!" I looked over at Yugi, who seemed to be having a harder time not believing this than I was. I had to let him know it wasn't true, that wasn't my older brother. "Yugi! Don't believe a word he says! I know my brother, and that's not him!"

"It is me, Yugi. Only now I'm a ghost, just looking for a little revenge."

"You shut up, you imposter!" I yelled up at the fake Seto. He simply ignored me and didn't look my way. Yugi stepped onto the platform with a determined face, whether it was Seto or not, he was going to duel him and beat him.

"Don't worry Yugi! You can beat him!" I said stepping forward and cheering, only to be thrust back by Kemo's grip. I growled at him, but watched the field. The duel commenced and to my surprised, the cards in the fake Seto's deck were like Seto's cards! But… it couldn't be Seto, I knew it wasn't. Yugi looked like he was having a hard time trying to figure it out for himself.

"What's the matter, Yugi? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Yugi, please! You gotta believe me, that's not my brother! I know my brother, and he's not like this. Nii-sama is my best friend and I know that he would never do anything like this." I stared into the fake Seto's eyes, so angry that someone would even attempt to pull off being Seto Kaiba's ghost. My brother was not dead, I just knew he wasn't. Pegasus was sick person for ever trying to do such a thing.

Even with all the accusations, the duel continued as planned. But only after a few minutes in, it already looked as though it wasn't going that well for Yugi. On top of that, the fake Seto kept telling more and more lies. He kept trying to impersonate my brother and throw Yugi off guard.

"Come on Yugi, you know just as well as I do this is no trick. Is that why you have so much fear in your eyes?"

"No! The only thing I fear is what the REAL Seto Kaiba is going to do to you when he finds out you've stolen his deck and pretended to be him!"

"If only Seto Kaiba were alive today to hear you say that, I'm sure he'd find that very funny." I shook my head.

"Stop lying, you jerk! You're not my brother! My brother isn't dead! Yugi, kick his butt! Show him what's what!" I said jumping forward, only to be pulled back once again by Kemo. I glared at him, but turned back towards the duel. Things weren't looking too well, but I knew Yugi would end up on top. He just had to be!

The fake Seto drew another card. He stared at it for a long time, before looking across the field at Yugi with a rather pleased face. "Well, if the other cards didn't bring back painful memories before, maybe this'll show you who I really am!" He threw down the very card everyone had feared from the very beginning. A magnificent Blue-Eyes White Dragon appeared on the field, and Yugi looked less than prepared for his summon.

"Now do you believe it's Seto Kaiba?" Kemo asked, "After all, he is the only one with all three Blue-Eyes in the whole world. Isn't that right, Mokuba?"

"It's not him, I don't care what you say! You must've stolen his deck!" I looked back at Yugi for a sign that he had something planned. Unfortunately that looked like it was the last thing on this mind. Tea, Joey, and Tristan kept cheering him on and assuring him that he would win, but even now I was beginning to doubt his success.

Yugi and the fake Seto continued to duel, and soon the duel became intense. Not only that, but it became rather… scary as well. After the fake Seto hd summoned one of the Blue-Eyes, it had suddenly died and the group had figured out that the only person who could manage to do that was the real Seto Kaiba, my big brother! I knew he was alive all along. And after that realization, the fake Seto revealed himself to be… some creaturely creature of the circus. It was a rather unpleasant sight.

"Wow, that has to be the creepiest thing I may have ever seen," Joey said, shocked by the imposters real form. Tea had her hands over her mouth.

"It's absolutely disgusting! How could we think that thing was Kaiba?!"

"Well, in a way, I am actually Seto Kaiba. You see, I use to be the evil that you vanquished in your duel with Seto." I shook my head, it became clear to me that this guy was not only an imposter, but he was also mentally insane.

"There's no way some creep like you was apart of my brother!" I turned towards Yugi, "Yugi, you destroy him and make him pay for all that he's said about my brother!" Yugi looked down at me and nodded. I just knew he would do it, against all odds, Yugi would always manage to find his way and come out victorious.

"We'll see about that!" Kemo said, "Kaiba might've had something to do with that last inconvenience, but Yugi's opponent still has one Blue-Eyes left, and the minute he summons it, Yugi is done for." I hated to admit it, but it was true. There was nothing left in Yugi's deck that could protect him from the last Blue-Eyes, and with only 500 life points left, it didn't look like he would be able to defend himself from another attack. "Kiss your freedom goodbye, once again Mokuba!"

"This duel isn't over yet! And I promise you Mokuba, I will win this duel and gain your freedom!" I nodded. I believed in Yugi, he always meant what he said and I knew that if there was anyone who could keep a promise, it was Yugi. He was going to win no matter what happened.

But then he summoned it, the one thing that he had. The fake Seto summoned the last Blue-Eyes White Dragon! I just wanted to march right up to that guy and punch him in the face, I was so mad! Yugi barely even had a couple turns to be able to think of something to use against the mighty dragon! There weren't many options left, and Kemo had assured us that Seto himself wouldn't be getting involved in the duel via computer again.

I wanted to shut my eyes, I couldn't watch it attack. But I knew I had to. I had a feeling in my gut, that this wasn't over yet. And I knew that surely the one person to actually beat my brother in a duel had a little something more up his sleeve. I knew that Yug wasn't going to go down that easily.

Sure enough, he didn't. He played Monster Reborn and brought back a Blue-Eyes of his own, powered it up, and attacked, defeating the imposter thingy once and for all! I was so happy, I was going to be free! Yugi had kept his promise! But just as Yugi had attacked with his powerful Blue-Eyes, Kemo shoved his hand over my mouth and stalked off with me secured within his powerful arms.

I kicked and fought, but it was no use. I attempted to bite him, but that only got me punched in the side. I couldn't believe it! Kemo had cheated! Yugi was going to win the duel fair and square, and yet Kemo had still stolen me! I was so furious, Pegasus was the lower than low for doing such a thing! He couldn't even be a decent man and play fair and square. Although I suppose I expected no less from the very man who was attempting to take over Kaiba Corp.

"Did you actually think I was going to let you go? That if Yugi won a little card game you would be set free? Psh-fat chance! We weren't going to let go of our hold on Seto Kaiba that easily!" Kemo stated, looking down at me as if I was the stupidest person he had ever seen in his life. Little did he know that the joke was on him, that the minute Seto reached Pegasus's castle, he was dead. I knew my brother was going to come for me.

Kemo continued his way through the forest with me at hand. I ran out of energy, so I had stopped trying to struggle. I wondered what Yugi was doing, and how he had reacted when he saw that I was gone. I hoped he was going to come after me and save me. If something did happen to my brother, Yugi would be my next best bet for being rescued. But I still believed Seto was out there, and that he was going to be on his way to come and rescue me.

We reached the castle and Kemo typed in the code. The automatic door opened and we walked in. There were very long and dark hallways, and I was almost tempted to ask where we were going. But I didn't feel like asking, I already knew we weren't going somewhere that was going to be too great.

After many, many minutes of walking, we made it back to the dining room where Pegasus was standing off to the side, staring out the window.

"I have brought the boy, Master Pegasus."

"Excellent, thank you oh so very much, Kemo." Kemo threw me to the ground and Pegasus walked all the way over and stood in front of me.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? Our little escapee?" Pegasus waved his finger at me, "Bad Mokuba! Bad! Although in all seriousness, I am rather upset with you." I was slightly confused, why did he think I cared about whether I upset him or not? I hated being in this place, I wanted out!

"I tried to be nice with you, but I suppose if you're going to act like a prisoner, then you might as well be a prisoner." I didn't get what he meant by that, I mean, wasn't I already a prisoner?

Pegasus looked up at Kemo. "Kemo, take him down to the dungeon. Make sure to lock him up good with the shackles." Kemo bowed with respect.

"Yes sir, right away." As Kemo led me out of the room, there was something that told me this wasn't going to be a good experience at all. And by the way Kemo was grinning, I could tell he had something else for me planned as well.

Even in all this madness, my mind still wandered back to my brother. I hoped he was on his way, because things were about to get ugly.

* * *

**A/N:** _I know what you are all thinking… 'Doesn't Kari have some sort of life?' Well, I think with the last week of summer vacation slipping by, I'm allowed to be able to do nothing but write with my spare time. I mean, after all, isn't that what you all want me to do anyway? In other news, I'm really excited about the next chapter because, yeah, it's going to be… AWESOME. So look out for that chapter coming your way!_


	5. Chapter 5: A Sense Of Hope

Xblackfirerosex:Hahahaha, nice. Seto should really consider that actually. And Seto isn't dead again, but Pegasus is basically suggesting that when he does reach the island, they plan to take him out either way. I know my version is a little more hard core than how it actually happened, but hey, you gotta love how I'm trying to be original(at least I try to give myself credit for that.x) Hahaha, anyways, thanks for the review!

Kukki Boo: Hahaha, it's only because I know one of my reviewers in particular takes much joy in seeing the suffering in children. Although I must say that I do as well, but this reader of mine takes it to a whole new level. Tehehe, anyhow, thank you for the review, and here's the next chapter!

Journey Maker: Good to see my Steven series readers following me up, even after the adventure is finished(I hear people call it the Steven series, so that's what I assume it's called ALL ACROSS THE WEB... like my story is that popular) Anyway, thanks for ALL your reviews, and I'll be looking forward to hear what you think of this chapter.

AmePiper: If you thought you hated him last chapter, just wait until you read this chapter!(no seriously, you'll probably call me a child abuser... which I am, but people don't need to know that) I'm kidding, although I do wish to inflict pain upon my younger brothers on a daily basis... but we can talk about that later. For now, thanks for the review, and here's the chapter!

InTheShadowOfSignificance: Thank you for the compliment! I must say that I do rather like your username. It is a bit on the long side, but powerful on the inside. Thanks for the review!

Chapter 5: A Sense Of Hope

Kemo dragged me through a whole bunch of hallways, and down a billion stairways, until we reached, what appeared to be, the basement below Pegasus's castle. Only I couldn't bring myself to seeing it as a basement, because it was much to eerie and medieval to be seen as that. It was much darker, and more humid. Overall, it was rather creepy. I didn't like it down here.

For some reason, Kemo stopped all too suddenly and caused me to run into him. Before I could even ask what was going on, I was impaled right in the face with Kemo's fist. "So you thought you could escape, did you?" He sent another punch at my stomach, then karate chopped me on the back to send me to the ground. "Thought you could get away?"

I tried to get up, but Kemo stomped on my back and caused me to fall back down. I didn't want to scream, I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of hearing me in pain. But it was too much to handle, I screamed uncontrollably. He grabbed me by the back of my collar and twisted me around, shoving me up against the wall with my feet dangling in the air. "What did I tell you about escaping?"

Kemo picked me up again and threw me to the ground. I rolled a bit before coming to a stop, my body curled into a child-like position, shaking with enormous pain. I opened one eye and saw him standing over me. I shook my head; please make him stop, don't let him keep going. He reached down, grabbed me by my neck, and held me up with just one hand.

"Not so tough now, are you?" I placed both my hands on his hand in an attempt to keep me from being strangled. I couldn't breathe, it was as if he were trying to hang me. When I did, his grip around my neck tightened. "You know what annoys me the most about children? It's your innocence, it's your sense of hope. For some reason, kids tend to think that no matter what happens, hope is still obtainable."

Kemo let go of me and dropped me to the ground. I fell to the hard ground with a big thud. I felt so weak, and my body hurt in places that I never knew could hurt. I slowly tried to push myself to my own two feet, but only found that I would fall over again. Kemo placed his hand on my shoulder and helped me stand. I looked up at him, pondering what kind of evil lay behind the eyes behind his sunglasses.

Kemo placed another hand on my shoulder, and then heaved his knee right into my gut once again. This time he had hit me harder than he ever had before and my head shot forward. I coughed in reaction to the blow, and a bit of blood flew out along with saliva. My eyes widened, and then shut tightly, my hands held my stomach.

I went down onto my knees and crouched forward, holding my stomach with both my hands. I started shaking violently when I realized I couldn't breathe. He had completely knocked the wind out of me, and suddenly I couldn't breathe. I attempted to open my mouth to suck in air, but my jaw felt as though it were screwed shut. I sucked in air through my nose and my body began to calm and my lungs started to function once again.

Kemo bent forward and grabbed me by the hair, dragging me into what looked like a jail cell. I threw me in and locked my legs into shackles attached to the wall. I lay there limp on the ground, in no condition to attempt to run away. I looked up at Kemo's evil face when he had completed his work and stood in front of me. He leaned forward and put his face right up to mine and spoke in a low voice, "I intend to kill any and all hope you may have of getting out of here. Seto Kaiba may not be dead, but the minute he steps on this island, he will be. NO ONE will be coming to save you. Just remember that." Kemo left the cell and locked the barred door behind him.

I waited a few moments, just to make sure Kemo was really gone. When ten minutes or so passed, I finally attempted to try and move. That was a stupid idea, it seemed my body would still be in incredible pain. I pushed myself into a position where I was sitting upright and leaving against the cold wall behind me. I stared down at the shackles clinging to my feet. I wanted to investigate what kind of made they were, but I needed to rest for a bit before moving once more.

I took a deep breath. I don't think I had ever been in so much pain in my life. I brought my hand up to my face and wiped my mouth, only to find blood on my sleeve when I had finished. I wanted to cry in that instant, but for some reason was afraid to. I envisioned Kemo rushing into my cell and beating me up again if I started crying, so I held back. He had scarred me in a way I had never imagined. And what was even more sad was the fact that that was Kemo's intention from the beginning.

I sat still for hours on end, I didn't dare move a muscle for fear that Kemo would come again to beat me. But even living through so much pain, I felt something on my chest. I reached into my shirt and was practically surprised to find my locket in my hand. I clicked it open and gazed upon the small image of Seto, smiling back up at me. "Nii-sama…" I said quietly to myself. Just looking at this picture, it gave me just the slightest bit of confidence.

Kemo wanted to kill what little hope I had left, but I knew my brother was going to come for me. As long as he was alive, he was going to come and rescue me. I knew this because ever since we were little, that's how Seto was. He was always looking out for me, always willing to protect me. Even in our darkest hour, he came through for me.

My mind went back in time as I remembered standing in front of the orphanage, Seto's hand clutching mine. I was so scared that day, it seemed like our whole world had come crashing down and somehow we had ended up standing in front of an orphanage. I didn't know what to expect. But my brother told me not to worry, and promised that he would always be there for me.

Pegasus thinks he can take over Kaiba Corp., that by keeping me locked up, that somehow he'll be able to get me to sign those forms. While Kemo thinks he can just kill Seto to get him out of the way. But neither of them know my brother like I do. I remember how, when Seto was a kid, he never lost at anything. Seto would just keep fighting back, he would keep on going till he had beaten everyone. And that's what he was going to do this time. Seto was going to beat Pegasus the same way.

I knew my brother was going to come for me, I just hoped it was going to be soon. This place was terrible, and I wasn't sure how much more of Kemo's violent rage I'd be able to take. I already felt as though I had been beaten half to death. But while I sat here in these conditions, my faith in my older brother would never die out. He was going to save me.

"…Come soon…" I said quietly to myself as I closed the locket and clutched it within both my hands, pressing it against my chest. Seto wasn't going to forget his promise, and he was going to save me. I shut my eyes tightly and held that locket in a firm grip until I heard someone walking towards my cell. My eyes opened and I quickly hid my locket within my shirt. I was fearful that Kemo had returned, but when I looked up at my intruder, it was none other than Croquet with a platter of food.

"I brought dinner," Croquet said, he gasped when he saw the condition I was in. How is it that he was surprised? He should've known all about what had happened. "Kemo did this to you, didn't he?" Croquet asked, opening up the barred door and walking in with the food in his hand.

"What other friends do you have that like to man handle me?" I said in reply, a little surprised I even had the strength to give such a witty come back. He was staring at me with a worried face, but I refused to believe he even cared. Croquet shook his head in shame.

"I tell Kemo time and time again to stop doing this, but this time he's gone too far. I'll have to report this to Master Pegasus."

"Why on earth do you even work for the likes of a lowly jerk like him?" Croquet looked displeased.

"You know, you should learn to respect Master Pegasus a little more, especially after all he's done for you." How dare Croquet lecture me about respect as I sit here in pain!

"Like what? Have me get the snot beaten out of? I don't know how that would lead me to want to respect him."

"Everything was going just fine until you decided to escape."

"No, nothing was going fine! What you don't seem to realize is, that monster KIDNAPPED me!" Croquet placed the food on the ground near me and stood back up.

"Believe what you want to, Mokuba, but at least the man isn't cruel enough to let you starve to death. You could be sleeping in a nice warm bed, but you decided you were ungrateful and tried to escape." Croquet walked out and locked the door behind him.

"I'll be back in an hour or so to check up on you." I waited once more until Croquet had completely left the area before turning to look at the food next to me. I stared at it with complete disgust. In reality, it looked like edible food, but just the idea of eating food given to me by Pegasus disgusted me. I wouldn't subject myself to eating such food. I didn't care whether I would starve or not, I wasn't going to eat any food given to me by Pegasus.

So that's precisely what I did. I sat still on the ground, occasionally glancing at the food as my stomach growled, and then looking away from it with no interest whatsoever. It was a hard thing to do, considering how hungry I was. When I thought about it, I realized I hadn't eaten all day. I had escaped before I could get breakfast that morning. I eyed the food once more, but held back any urges to take any of the food. I wouldn't bow to his every whim just because he fed me, I wanted to make it so that I had nothing to owe him in return.

In an hour, Croquet did return, but was surprised to find that the food hadn't been touched. He stared at me, and then at the food, and then back at me again. "Why haven't you eaten?" He asked with surprise.

"I refuse to eat any food that comes from Pegasus."

"What? Now you refuse to eat? Are you that ungrateful?"

"No, I'm that determined not to give up Kaiba Corp. to that mad man."

"What? So you're just not going to eat?" I crossed my arms.

"Exactly." Croquet chuckled and shook his head. He bent down and picked up the tray once more.

"Whatever you say, kid. Tomorrow morning I'll be back, and you'll forget all about this stupid little strike once you realize how hungry you are. You won't keep this up," Croquet said before leaving. He looked at me once more, amused as if I were playing some sort of game that Croquet knew I was going to lose. Then he left, and I returned to my thoughts, and my growling stomach.

It was going to be a long night, I could tell. What time was it, anyhow? Was it night or day? I didn't have a watch on me, and the dungeon didn't have any windows of any sort. It was an uncomfortable feeling not knowing the time, whether it was day or night. I looked around the cell to look for something to do but when a person is chained to the wall, they don't have many options. But I knew one thing I could do, one thing that was guaranteed to bring me happiness. I stuck my hand down my shirt and pulled out my locket once more, clicking it open to see the same assuring smile on Seto's face.

My mind wandered back to my brother once more just as my stomach was beginning to growl continuously from hunger. Where was my Nii-sama? Why hadn't he come for me yet? Seto had never failed me before. In the orphanage, he always use to stand up to me, and protect me from all the bullies that would take pleasure in hurting me. But with Seto around, they always got their pay back. He was always standing up for me. So… where was he now?

'Nii-sama… I need you…' I thought to myself, calling out to him. 'You're the only thing that gives me hope… and if you don't come soon… I'm afraid my hope will run out.'

I stared at his picture for hours, before closing it and hiding it within my shirt. As the hunger grew more powerful, exhaustion took its effect and let sleep take over my body. At least in my dreams I wasn't hungry, at least I could hope for a brighter day.

But even my dreams had turned into nightmares.

* * *

_**A/N:**__So there you have it, chapter five right there for you to love and enjoy. I have a little more of the actual episodes in there for you, if any of you recognized Mokuba's Seto rants, but yeah, next chapter should be fully original and fully awesome for your enjoyment. I hope you liked it!_

_P.S: Why does school have to start?_


	6. Chapter 6: The Shadows Of Reality

AmePiper: Hahaha, thank you for your funny review! For a second there I thought you were actually made at me/dissatisfied with the plot and I was like freaking out. Just cause you've been a fan of my work for so long, and then to have you dissatisfied... well, I'd probably have to quit, cause something must be truly horrifying about my writing to make you do that. I am really mean to Mokuba, and some day I may apologize... not. I have too much fun with it! Keep reading, cause you know it ups my story's coolness by at least 60 when you do! Thanks for the review!

Rena Redhead: I guess it must be a good thing that no one else has reviewed this chapter, cause then it just leaves me so much space to response to all your reviews! I'll try and go from first to last, but knowing me, I'll probably get lost along the way and start talking about chiwawas or something random like that. Hahaha, anyhow. Let's see... yes, I do love guilt tripping you. It's like one of my favorite hobbies:3 I'm so surprised you like all my chapter titles, I just think they're so random and weird! But hey, if they got one fan, I'll keep 'em going. By the way, have I ever told you how amazing it is that you will say you love all these key and crucial elements in my story that I wasn't even aware were in there? Hahaha, I think that's the best part of getting your reviews, cause you see so much good in what I throw together in a couple of hours. Oh, yes yes! Now, I was really intrigued by this comment; "you just care about and know the characters so well and it shows through how you write them." I don't know why, but for some reason, that came as a surprise to me. Like, I never thought that I really cared about the characters, that I merely took joy in taking them as characters and totally messing with them and causing them pain. But you're kinda right, I really do love all these characters, even Joey to a certain degree(he's like the brother I already have and want to stab!:D) Hahaha, I'm so cool. I'm surprised you thought I really emphasized how much pain Mokuba was in, considering I felt like I rushed through the whole thing, but hey, your comments ALWAYS surprise me in a nice way!:) I promise to try and review to your chapter sometime real soon, thanks for all your lovely reviews!

Chapter 6: The Shadows Of Reality

"Wake up, already." I jerked awake when I was given a little kick to my side. I looked up, Croquet was standing above me. I peered up at him with one eye open. "Here. You hungry enough to eat yet?" Croquet placed a plate of food right in front of my face. It smelled and looked delicious, but instead, I closed my one eye shut and ignored him and the food all together.

"Hm… I see…" I heard Croquet say, "Still not hungry, huh? I would've thought you would be starving by now, but I guess not." The truth was, I was hungry. Or at least, I thought I was. It had been so long now since I've eaten food. My stomach had been craving food so much that by now I no longer felt hunger. I was wasting away at this point.

"Well, I suppose I'll just have to talk to Pegasus and see what we'll have to do. We can't have you die yet, we still need to convince you to sign those papers." Croquet disgusted me. I thought about how much I hated him and all the others as he exited my dungeon and left. I thought about how absolutely evil those men were. I don't think I hated anyone as much as I hated them.

I slowly pushed myself off the ground and stretched. Just another night of sleeping on the cold, hard floor of the dungeon. The fact that I had shackles around my ankles made it so that I could never be comfortable at all. I would've burst out in fury if I could, but I had no energy. After going so long without food, the only thing I could do was sit and think.

I moved my hand up and down my shirt, pulling out my locket. I flipped it open to look at Seto's face, wanting to smile, but having no energy to do so. My memories of my brother were very fond, especially ones of him as a child. The orphanage was a dark time in my life, but having him just be there for me was enough to get me through it all. I started having another flashback.

We were back at the orphanage, Seto and I, and we were standing outside. Another car drove away, and I remembering looking up at my brother and wondering if he had regretted what he had just done. As a child, I was very outspoken, so I asked him why he had turned down that family, that it could've been him driving in that car to a happy new home and a new family.

"That could've been you big brother!" I said with wide eyes, "We would've been separated, but you would've had a home!" Seto turned to me, his eyes changed with the shifting of light, and suddenly he didn't look so regretful.

"Any home wouldn't be complete without you. I made a promise to you Mokuba, and I intend to keep it." I smiled. The rest of the world could've offered my brother everything a person could ever want, but somehow he would always put me first. Sometimes I couldn't believe I had such a caring brother.

"So you're not going to let them separate us?" Seto grabbed my hand and shook his head.

"Not now, not ever. Nothing will ever keep us apart." I remembered the way he looked at me and smiled, somehow made me feel like he really meant it. That he was sincere about what he said and he wouldn't dare let it happen. It was funny to remember that, only to come back to reality and realize I was locked in a cell, hungry, and wondering where that exact same person was. Wondering… if he was ever going to save me.

My body became tense when I heard another person walk into the dungeon. The person was walking a different way from Croquet, the foot steps were loud and the pace was slow. No, this wasn't Croquet. It had to be someone else. I gulped as I looked up to see Kemo standing before me and he looked very displeased.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the high and mighty prisoner, how you doing tough guy?" Kemo asked in a provoking tone as he entered my cell. His eyes glanced at the plate of food, untouched, that had been placed beside me. I made no movement whatsoever as he approached closer. "I was about to go on my patrol when I overheard Croquet explaining the situation down here. So you think you're too good for our food?"

I said nothing, merely looking at Kemo with a blank face. If I didn't give him any satisfaction, if I didn't show fear, maybe he would leave me be. But when he started coming closer to me, I instantly knew that wasn't going to happen. Kemo knelt down in front of me and picked up the plate of food, holding it in front of my face.

"Eat it," Kemo commanded. I did nothing. "I wasn't suggesting, I was telling you to eat it. Eat it right now." I was going to do no such thing, especially not for the likes of Kemo.

"No."

"Really? Then I guess we'll just have to do something about that, now won't we?" I swallowed hard once again, knowing the worst was yet to come. Kemo took up the plate of food again, only this time he shoved the whole thing right into my face. Pancakes, eggs, bacon, all kinds of things were now being squished right onto my face. I kept my mouth closed and my eyes glued shut. I wasn't going to eat if it were the last thing I did.

Kemo started twisting the plate around, putting more force on the plate by pushing it harder. My nose felt like it was going to break, and I wasn't able to get air. I started thrashing about, trying to get the plate off me. After some minutes of fighting back, Kemo finally let go and the plate fell into my lap.

Food was stuck all over my face, and some was dripping off the sides of my cheeks. It was the most uncomfortable feeling ever. I had no longer bathed in a number of days, and now I had food all over my face. I wanted to throw up right then and there, but then I saw Kemo picking up the plate again and prepared for impact.

"Alright then, if you won't eat that way, then I guess I'll try something else." I prayed for a less violent procedure as I watched him pick up a fork that was laying beside me. He stabbed the fork into one of the remaining pancakes that was stuck to the plate and plucked it up with the fork. "Open wide."

I closed my mouth again, there was no way he was going to feed me. There was just no way I was going to let him even touch me. Kemo crept up closer, using one hand to steady my face by gripping my chin as I started to jerk my head around, and the other inching closer with the pancake at hand. I tried to force off his hold on my face, the fork coming closer and closer.

With one quick thrust, he stuffed the entire pancake into my mouth and tried shoving it down my throat. By now I was kicking and screaming, or attempting to scream, for help. But Kemo just kept forcing it down farther and farther. I wasn't able to breath again, and I started to freak. He moved his hand from my face to my throat, forcing the food down my throat. For the sake of being able to breath, I swallowed as hard as I could and the food went down.

"There, now that wasn't so hard, right?" Kemo asked. I only wished that he had been right, but I knew this was not going to go well. I hadn't eaten in days, and I could feel the food entering my starved stomach. It didn't react the right way, and I could feel the huge lump of food coming right back up. I turned my head and threw up on the side. I coughed and coughed, shivering with disgust and agony. I looked over at Kemo whom was only taking pleasure in this pathetic site. He got up.

"Well, I better let Croquet take care of this one, I gotta go out and patrol the island. Have a good one." Kemo left me in my cell, food on my face, the taste of vomit in my mouth, and the smell of defeat and disgrace about in the air. I hated this place. I hated everything about it. I wanted to get out of here, I wanted to go home.

I wanted to cry so badly in that moment, I wanted to cry so hard. I barely had any time to cry before, but I really needed to cry now. Only, I couldn't for some reason. I knew I wanted to, I knew I needed to, but I couldn't. My body simply wasn't able to. And then it had become clear that I had lost control of everything. I was no longer in control of my life, my situation, and now not even my own body. In a way, Pegasus had already won, because I had already lost.

I felt the locket under my shirt; I wasn't even sure if I was able to hope anymore. If I could no longer cry, how could I possibly think that I could hope too? I wanted to believe my brother was coming for me, that he was going to save me. But things were too dark now. Things were just too dark. If there was anyone who was coming to save me, they would've already shown up by now.

Against all my negative emotions, I still pulled out my locket one last time and held it in my palm. I didn't flip it open, I just held it for a moment. I was trying to fell the energy and love from my brother through the locket, but all I could feel was the cold metal in my hand. It was done, it was all over.

I sat there for couple hours. It was the only thing I could do. That and think. But thinking would only drive me crazy. My thoughts would jump between believing my brother was going to save me, to believing there was nothing else to believe in. I suppose the only good thing about this period of time was the fact that Kemo hadn't come to torture me. In fact, no one had came, not even Croquet.

Then I heard guards coming into the dungeon and began to stand guard in front of my cell. What was going on? Was there a bad guy coming? I imagined some sort of terrorist group coming to bomb Duelist Kingdom. Although the idea did make me chuckle since I hated the place so much, but I was also fearful as to what would happen to me.

After a couple hours more, the idea had floated away and I had returned to my original sad thoughts. My brother… my hope or my greatest disappointment. I wasn't sure which, but then I thought I heard him. Calling my name. I looked up and around, "Nii… sama…?" I said quietly, looking around. But no one came, and I frowned. I must be going crazy now. I sighed and looked down at the ground. No one was coming for me.

"Mokuba." This time I knew I had heard a voice, I knew I had heard a sound. I looked up and my eyes widened and a smile crept up on my face.

"Nii-sama!" I said with total happiness. I couldn't believe it. There Seto was, there he was standing before me. He was here. He was here! "I…" I choked on my own words, "I knew you would… come for me." I didn't know whether I was lying or telling the truth, but I wasn't sure whether I was dreaming or not either.

"That's right, Mokuba. I'm here… and I'm going to set you free." I got to my feet, clutching my locket in my hand, and started walking towards him.

"Nii-sama, I-" I jerked forward, I had completely forgotten about the shackles around my ankles. I looked back up at my brother in a hurry, afraid he'd disappear again if I didn't keep my eye on him. Instead Seto was still standing there, concern and worry in his eyes. My brother had no longer found me, but he had found himself too on whatever journey he had gone on.

"Be still little brother," Seto said in a reassuring voice, "I'm going to get you out of here. Just give me a second to pick the locks." He flipped out an odd looking gadget from his pockets when there was clapping heard down the hall. Seto stood up straight and looked down as an animal would when they were aware of their prey near.

"Brave Kaiba," I knew that voice, and I shuddered when I heard it, "I knew nothing would stop you from getting here. You passed the first test." Pegasus was in plain view from my cell, and he was standing opposite my brother, who looked as though he were going to pummel him.

"Oh really? And did you foresee what I'm about to do to you for harming my younger brother?" Pegasus looked everything but worried about my brother being here. I stared at him intently, wondering what he was planning to do next. I wanted to do something, but there was nothing I could do except watch.

"Actually Kaiba, I predict that you won't lay a finger on me." Seto gritted his teeth.

"Is that so? You're going to regret those words when I'm finished getting some pay back for what you've done to my brother."

"Don't be ridiculous Kaiba-boy. In my dungeon, in my castle, in my realm, the only one who makes threats is me." His right eye started to glow and a bright, yellow light lit up the room. I attempted to cover my eyes in response, but I felt as though something was being extracted from my body.

I cried out in pain as it seemed like my very soul was being forcefully taken from my body and thrust into an unknown world. It felt like the whole world was spinning, and I was falling through the air. Then, it seemed, everything settled and stopped.

It was dark. I didn't know where I was. And Seto was no where to be found. I was alone, once again.

* * *

**A/N:** _It's cute and cuddly, and now it's in the shadow realm! You guessed it, Kari's latest update!(you thought I was talking about Mokuba, didn't you? Silly humans!) I'm kidding, as much as I hate to admit it, I'm just another human as well. Although I'd like to think I was one of those cool humans, ya know, the one that everyone wants to be friends with? But anyhow, that's just me being random. I hope the update didn't take too long. Everyone keeps telling me to slow down anyway, so I figure it shouldn't be doing much harm to anyone. Hope you all are having a good week! Oh yeah, and sorry I wasn't very original with the scene between Seto and Pegasus. Usually I try to gie lines going off of what they actually say in the episode, but, I don't know. It just wasn't coming to me that day. Anyhow, have fun!_


	7. Chapter 7: Congratulations!

Starlight Luster:__Thanks a lot for your nice compliments! I like your username, it's quite pretty. Oh yes, I decided to make the Shadow Realm very interesting. I hope you like what I've decided to do with it. Thanks for the review!

Journey maker:Yeah, Kemo is a fail. But don't you just wanna shoot Pegasus when Seto finally makes it there and then Pegasus takes his soul? Gosh, that just made me so mad! Anyhow, thanks for your review, and enjoy the chapter!

InTheShadowOfSignificance: I'd love to add more Pegasus, but right now our dearest little Mokuba is in the shadow realm. Don't fret though, he'll be just fine… for now. And what I've decided to do with the shadow realm is pretty interesting too. Let me know what you think. Thanks for your review!

AmePiper: I'm sorry to hear that things aren't going so swell back at home.. But maybe this update will cheer you up!(or maybe my over confidence is my weakness…) By the way, I thought the nickname "Pegleg" was a really funny/cute name for Pegasus. For now, he's only taken Mokuba's soul, but we assume as time moves forward in the story Seto'll have his soul taken as well. So for right now, it's just our Mokie Poo. Oh, but you must let me know what you think of the shadow realm I've come up with here. I think it's a little more interesting than simply 'eternal darkness' Let me know how you're feeling about it. Thanks for your review!

Chapter 7: Congratulations!

I was sitting down in what appeared to be some sort of waiting room. Only, there was no one around. There were magazines on the nearby coffee tables, and people at the front desks busying away with whatever they were doing, but no one else. Oh, and for some reason there was this faint, purple mist about the place.

I got up, finally agreeing that asking someone would probably be my best bet as to figuring out what was going on. I walked over to the lady at the front desk nearest to me and she looked up as I stopped. "Hello Ma'am, sorry to bother you, but could you tell me where I am?" The woman frowned and started continuing what she had been doing before.

"Sit back down until you're name is called." I shrugged.

"Um… well, okay." I already felt like a complete idiot when I turned away and sat back down. This sure was an odd place and I couldn't help but wonder if I was forgetting something. That something had just happened, or had been happening, but nothing seemed to come to mind. Had I not finished my homework or something?

Another woman stepped into the room holding a clip board, "Mokuba Kaiba." I stood to my feet and walked over to her.

"I'm Mokuba Kaiba." She looked me up and down before opening the door for me.

"Step right in, you're next." I walked in and let her direct me through the hallways.

"So… what am I in for anyway? And what is this place? Am I in a hospital?" I tried asking by twisting back to look at her. But every time I did, she would jab me in the back with her clip board and tell me to keep going.

"Everything will be explained to you when we get there." I wanted to ask where, but my back was already starting to hurt from being jabbed by the clip board. She commanded me to stop and opened the door to a random room for me. I looked back at her once more about to ask her another question, but she shoved me in.

"Just press the play button." The woman slammed the door on my face, and then I was stuck in an empty room. There was nothing, except for one TV on top of a VCR in the middle of the room. I went and sat down in front of it, there was a piece of paper tapped to the top of the TV that said 'Press Play' Sighing, I did as it instructed and pressed the play button on the VCR.

An odd man with ridiculous hair came onto the screen, a huge smile across his face. "Hi there!" He began in an obnoxiously happy tone, "If you're watching this, then congratulations! You have been sent to the Shadow Realm!" I blinked for a moment.

"Shadow Realm?" I asked out loud.

"That's right, the one and only Shadow Realm! If you thought your life was hell before, just wait until you see what's in store for you here! The Shadow Realm is the dark dimension which was essentially created to serve as a substitute as death, and known for being the best place to forcefully place the people you don't like! But if you're still not convinced, then who cares? Because the truth is, you're stuck here for pretty much the rest of your life!"

What was this guy talking about? What did he mean by all of this? It was so confusing, and frightening. How had I been placed here? And by who? My face went blank with realization as it all came back to me. The kidnapping, the castle, the escape, the dungeon, the waiting, the beatings, the force feeding, my brother and… Pegasus. The last thing I remembered was Pegasus showing up, just as my brother was about to finally set me free.

"We hope you enjoy your stay here in eternal darkness! Thanks for stopping by!" The man said just before a black hole appeared below me and my body fell through. Surely this was the oddest thing I had ever experienced in my life, but I was too confused and angered by the whole thing to realize it.

In less than a minute, I had fallen through the random black hole and landed on the ground somewhere in the middle of nowhere. It was dark, and there was even more purple mist floating around in the air. I looked around and realized I was alone… again. I sighed, what was I supposed to do?

Then I heard a noise. Then another noise. My eyes scanned the area but there was nothing be found. Another noise, I wasn't sure where it was coming from. I could feel my heart beginning to beat faster and faster with every quickened noise, the time in between the sounds was becoming smaller. It happened again and again until something poked me in the back.

"Boo." Instead of my normal reaction, I completely froze. I still absolutely still, without breathing or blinking. The stranger poked me again and tipped me forward. I would've fallen right on my face if my body hadn't finally woken up from whatever it had been paralyzed from and caught myself using my hands. I flipped myself back over and stood up, looking back at my opponent.

"You're not much of a jumper, are you?" I stood there, speechless for a moment. I even rubbed my eyes a couple times just to make sure what I was staring at was real. I slowly raised my hand and pointed at the figure standing in front of me.

"You're… a duel monster." She smirked.

"You'll get extra credit if you can guess what duel monster." I grinned and crossed my arms.

"Saint Joan, a fusion and light type monster." She rolled her eyes.

"There's no need to brag," She held out her hand to me, "The name's Joan." I reached out to shake her hand, but she swiftly pulled it back and ran her hand through her hair. "Too slow." Joan chuckled. I was the least bit amused.

"Whatever," I grumbled, "So why again is a duel monster following me?"

"Well, this IS the Shadow Realm after all… but if you must know, every new soul sent to the Shadow Realm must be assigned a Gakuto to follow the person around until they have completely lost their soul to the darkness of the Shadow Realm and/or are killed by another lost soul hoping to find his or her way out of this place." I stared at her blankly. Was she being serious right now?

"Hold up, I remember that stupid video telling me I had lost my soul, but are you saying there's still a way to get it back?" Joan nodded.

"Basically. You see, you're still in the beginning stages of the Shadow Realm, so you still have a chance to save your soul and get out of this place. But after a certain amount of time, your soul is consumed completely by darkness and therefore cannot be returned to the world you once knew."

"Then what happens?"

"You become a Gakuto, like me, destined to stalk miserable twerps like you until the end of time… that is, unless you are killed." This was becoming complicated, and sounding much too like the video games I use to play at home. I couldn't figure out whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Hold on… so if I get killed in this place looking for a way out of the Shadow Realm, what happens to you?"

"I basically get a free ticket out of this place and are allowed passage to the real world once more." I scratched my chin, from the sound of it, it didn't seem like the odds wete she was going to be on my side. If anything, she was going to try and get me killed.

"So… I'm guessing you're not going to help me, right?" I asked, just to make sure. One could never know if they ran into a kindly duel monster or not.

"Not one bit, after all, we were designed to torment you. Hence the fact that I tried to make you pee your pants by sneaking up on you." I rolled my eyes and walked past Joan.

"As if, I'm not afraid of you or this messed up world. I'm going to find that way out and I'm going to be re-united with my brother once more!" Joan sighed and walked over to where I stood.

"Whatever you say kid, I'll just be one step behind you, waiting for you to slip up." I glared at her.

"We'll see about that." I placed my finger in my mouth, pulled it out, and then held it in the air. To my disappointment, there was no wind. I frowned, Joan laughed. "It's the Shadow Realm kid, there ain't going to be any wind blowing through here anytime soon. There's nothing but darkness and mist." I ignored her comment and started walking forward.

I didn't need her help, and I didn't need the wind either. All I needed was the will to move forward, and the desire to get out of this place soon enough before the darkness had consumed my soul. It all sounded farfetched when I actually thought about it, surely my brother would have been skeptical to believe such a thing, but this place was weird enough to fit the part.

"So… you're just going to keep walking aimlessly in a random direction?" Joan asked after a couple minutes of walking in silence. I refused to in her direction, I simply kept moving forward.

"What do you care? It's not like you're going to help me anyway…" I could hear Joan chuckle from behind me. I was already starting to wildly dislike her and her attitude.

"True, true. I just love making people feel stupid, cause in reality, you really are stupid!" Joan laughed, again, at her very own words, "Oh yeah, so what's your name anyway?"

"I don't see why you bother even asking, but if you must know, it's Mokuba and I don't really care what you think of me or my name." I just knew Joan was going to say some snide remark about my name. She seemed like that kind of person.

"That makes two of us," Joan said, "I don't really care what you think of me either. In fact, I won't care if you even refuse to talk to me… although it does get pretty boring when that happens, so feel free." I stared at her out of the corner of my eye.

"You really want me to talk to you, don't you?" Joan glared at me and whacked me across the head with her metal fist. "OW!"

"Don't get smart with me kid, remember, I'm the one trying to kill you." I rubbed my head in a soothing motion until after a while it finally started to fade away. I sighed; it didn't really matter either way. I had too much on my mind to even be concerned with what she thought or felt. All I could really find myself thinking about was my brother.

We were so close… he had been so close to getting me out of there… I had been so close to finally being able to escape. What had happened? How could this have happened? I was seething with rage as Pegasus popped into my mind. Pegasus, he had to be the most despicable person I had ever met in my life.

I couldn't help wondering, though, where my brother was during all this. Pegasus had condemned me to this odd place where I was being stalked by a random duel monster, but where was he? Had Pegasus gotten his soul too? Was he already here? I stopped walking for a moment and turned towards Joan.

"Hey Joan, if there was someone else I knew that had been sentenced to the Shadow Realm as well, is there a possibility that I would run into him?" Joan shrugged.

"I don't really know. There's a tiny possibility, but I can practically guarantee you won't be running into anyone you know anytime soon. The Shadow Realm executives make sure to keep all victims away from anyone who could have the slight possibility of knowing someone here."

"But why? What does it matter?"

"I don't know, makes it more painful I guess. It's not like you were sent here to skip around with your little friends having fun all the time. If you remember, this place is supposed to substitute for death, so it's not going to be pleasant." Executives that made sure you would never run into anyone you know… this place was getting stranger and stranger by the second. None of this really made sense to me, but it wasn't like I had much of a choice.

I was going to be stuck here for a while, I was being held captive once again, and not only that, but I even had a Gakuto, or whatever, just to make sure I failed so she could be able to get her soul back as well. Things were not turning out well for me.

One thing was for sure, though. Being in another dimension without my brother, being separated again… it sucked. All I wanted was my brother back. If I could just see my brother one last time, tell him that I loved him, I would have an easier time de_a_ling with this.

I missed my Nii-sama so much.

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**A/N:**_ Okay, so there was a lot of explaining that went on in this chapter, hopefully that didn't bore you guys too much. But hey! How bout that creative little shadow realm scene? And how much do you guys already love Joan? Hahaha, yeah, you can probably tell I'm having tons of fun with this already. The next couple chapters will be fun to write, but I'm hoping they'll be just as fun to read in the mean time!_


	8. Chapter 8: Who Let The Dogs Out?

InTheShadowOfSignificance: I have to say, your review really made me happy. I mean, I can't remember exactly all the details, but I just remember having a crappy day and coming back and getting this review, and feeling much better. I'm glad you were my first reviewer, cause this review really changed my day around. So thank you so much for that. I don't know if I would be willing to write that kind of fic, considering I'm writing this one, but I'm really glad that you like this idea enough to want to ask me to make it into a completely separate fic. I'm hoping to get all the juiciness of it all in this story, though. Thanks again! I really appreciate it!

Starlight Luster: Yes it does, Starlight, yes it does. But that is my job, is it not? To make the life of a young boy as miserable as possible? At least I pretend it's my job, I've been doing it for so long XP. Oh yes I did! Actually, there hadn't been much deciding to be done. Saint Joan just sort of came to me and I put her in. Saint Joan is one of my favorite duel monsters too, and so is Wingweaver!(that is so cool!) I actually haven't decided whether or not I want him to meet Seto, but we'll see what happens, right? I mean, that way we can both be surprised! Thanks again for the fantastic review!

AmePiper: Interior decorator, brilliant, hahaha. I loved that. I decided to be a little less boring with my interpretation of the Shadow Realm, and it brings me joy to know it fits everyone! Oh, but you know what brings me even more joy? All your wonderful reviews! They're so sweet and kind, thank you so much for all of them! You're a lovely person, Ame my dear, don't change anytime soon. Thanks again lovely!

Chapter 8: Who Let The Dogs Out?

We had been walking for hours in who knows what direction. Actually, I couldn't even be sure that it was hours. There was no sun rise, no sun set, nothing. Just darkness, and that creepy purple mist that seemed to be everywhere in this weird place. We wandered for a long while, until I just got too tired to keep going and we had to stop and take a break.

Joan, of course, annoyed the crap out of me the whole time. Every time I did something or said anything, she would try and find some way to criticize me. It was the most annoying thing, and it begged the question as to what exactly she was doing even following me if she apparently hated me so much. No one could really be sure.

I had guessed it had been for the very reason she had told me she was following me; to be there when I was killed so she could get out of here. It made perfect sense to me, considering what a jerk she was. But I didn't spend the whole time hating her; my thoughts were mainly on my brother, and whether or not I would ever see him again.

Even as I was sitting silently on the ground, pondering whether or not I could find any wood to make a fire with, just to make the place seem a bit cozier, I thought of my brother. It wasn't the normal thoughts, though. It was more of… angry thoughts. Thoughts I never thought I'd really think. But at the same time, it was all his fault I was even in this mess, his fault that he didn't save me in time. What else did I have to believe in? What else could I see in Seto to keep me going now that I was stuck here?

I leaned back, holding myself up with my arms, but keeping my head titled towards the air so I could stare at the sky. A random thought came to mind that I decided to say aloud for no real reason.

"There aren't any stars in the sky," I said plainly, not expecting a response. I could see Joan looking over at me from the corner of my eye. I couldn't tell whether she was going say just another mean comment or not, although at this point I had ceased to care what she thought of me.

"What did you expect? It's the Shadow Realm… it's not supposed to be friendly." I shrugged.

"I guess you're right… that was stupid of me to even ask," I sighed; why was she so mean to me all the time?

"Hey kid… whatever your name is, Moku or something," Joan started, "Can I ask you something?" I titled my head back down to look in her direction.

"Sure, why not?" Joan was dismantling his sword from his belt, and pulling off her armor to reveal a thick layer of chain mail. I couldn't imagine how she was able to walk the distance we had just now with all that weight on her body. But maybe being a duel monster gave you that sort of ability.

"What's a kid like you doing in the Shadow Realm?" I shrugged.

"I don't know… what's it matter to you anyway?" I asked back, wanting Joan to know what it was like always having to answer snide remarks.

"It doesn't," Joan said quickly, crossing her arms, "I would just like to know what kind of person would send a twerp like you into the Shadow Realm. You don't see kids walking around here every day… you must've been a threat to someone." I rested my head on my hands.

"No… more like I'm being used as a weapon against my brother…" I could feel my tears welling up, but I bit my lip in an effort to hold them down. There wasn't anyway I was going to cry in front of a girl. Although I was amazed to see Joan's stone cold face suddenly start to fade away.

"They're using your soul as a hold on your brother? That ain't right…" Joan shook her head, "No kid should have to be sent here on terms like that. You've got your whole life ahead of you… a kid like you shouldn't have to lose something like that." My face brightened a little at the sound of something resembling care and concern.

"Yeah… I was so close to finally being with my brother again when…" I dug my front teeth even deeper into my lip to keep from bawling, "Pegasus came. He ruined everything. I don't know how he did it, but I know that he's the reason I'm here. I hate that guy." Joan became more alert at the sound of the word 'hate'.

"Don't say that, hate is too powerful a word for a kid like you to be throwing around. I'm sure the guy is just a little confused." I chuckled.

"Yeah, Pegasus is confused about a LOT of things." Joan rolled her eyes.

"Jokes… that's clever. You and your brother sound pretty close." I rolled onto my back and laid flat on the ground, looking up.

"Yeah… I'd like to think so. But my brother kind of left me for a while, and that's the only reason I got involved in this whole mess. Everything just went downhill after he left… I mean, Pegasus came in and tried to take everything. I tried to stop him, but I ended up just being kidnapped. And then I try to escape, but somehow he finds me again and then locks me in a dungeon and…" I started to loose myself in my thoughts and in my own words.

"Oh god, do you even know how long it's been since I've actually eaten anything? I went on a hunger strike, I haven't eaten in days, cause that was the only way I felt like I had power and keep my hold over Kaiba Corp. That was the only way… I almost died.

And you know what else? I didn't care if I died. Do you know what it's like to wait for someone, day in and day out, and wake up every morning realizing after a while, that no one is coming for you?" I brought my hands up to my face and covered myself up. I was very silent for a while, all sorts of bottled emotions I had kept inside had started to resurface and I just needed to get a breather.

Why was I even telling Joan this? I bet she was the last person on earth, or, well, in the Shadow Realm, that would even care about what I had to say. I guess I couldn't blame myself at the same time, considering what solitary confinement and daily beatings could do to a person at my age.

When I removed my hands and looked towards Joan, I was surprised to see a concerned face; a very concerned face, at that. I had almost forgotten all my various emotions upon seeing the look she had on her face.

"…Is… that really true? All that you said… that happened?" I nodded slowly and Joan looked away briefly. "Wow… I can't believe it. It makes you wonder what kind of monster would send you here after you endured all of that."

"Yeah, well…" As nice as it was to know that Joan had some sort of human heart inside of her, I hated the idea of being pitied. I grabbed a random rock that was near me and tossed it into the distance. I turned towards her, "That's life, I guess… So what's you story?"

"My story?"

"Yeah, don't you have a story to tell? I mean, how'd you get stuck in this place?"

"I'm not really sure…" Joan said in shame, "After the darkness fully consumes you and you become part of the Shadow Realm, your memory sort of dies with it. You tend to forget ever being a real human, or things that had happened to you when you were once amongst the people with souls."

"Wait, so I'm going to forget everything if I stay here long enough?" Joan nodded. It brought the question up, though; did I even want to remember all the painful memories I had endured in the past? After everything that's happened; losing all my memory didn't sound like a bad thing. Although I didn't like the idea of wandering around, following random people until they were either killed or lost their own souls to darkness.

"There's not much I can say I recall from my real life… the Shadow Realm has a way of making you feel like a lost individual. It plays on both your fears and regrets; forcing them to back fire on you," Joan stated, "It's can be a scary place at times, but I guess I sort of am… glad… you know…" I didn't. She was trying to say something, but I wasn't sure what.

"Yes?"

"That I… uh…" Joan shook her hand, "Nothing. I'm tired, good night." Joan lay on her back and turned onto her side so that her back was turned towards me. I didn't know what Joan was getting at, but I didn't really care because the truth was I was exhausted myself.

But lying flat out on my back, my head staring into the starless sky, sleep never quite came to me. I found myself slipping in and out of sleep; it seemed the only things that awaited me in my dreams were nightmares.

Suddenly I was standing by myself in the meeting room back at Kaiba Corp. I was sitting at the end of the very long table in the middle of the room; Seto was sitting opposite from me. By the look on his face, he didn't seem happy. I wasn't sure what I had done, but somehow I could feel his anger boiling up from within.

"Nii-sama?" I asked aloud, "What am I doing here?" I had no idea what was going on. Apparently my question on angered him more.

"I'm taking full control of Kaiba Corp., Mokuba. I'm seizing your 2 to ensure that Kaiba Corp. will never slip through my fingers again."

"Nii-sama! I'd never try and take Kaiba Corp. from you! We're a team, remember? I was willing to die to keep the company from being taken over by Pegasus!" Seto slammed his fists onto the table and stood up forcefully.

"That's enough, Mokuba! I've had it with you and your lies!" One by one, the Big 5 started to come into the room. Each of them stood behind Seto, patting him on the back in approval.

"Good work Mr. Kaiba, you're making the right choice by keeping Kaiba Corp. out of the hands of small greedy children," Lector said, followed by a chuckle. Seto looked away from me, and over to the side, nodding.

"Alright, a deal's a deal. Take him away." I felt a hand land on my shoulder and I looked up to see Kemo standing over me. He was grinning in a way that sent shivers down my spine. I tried to run, but his grip tightened and I was forced to stand by his side.

"Mr. Pegasus thanks you for your generous exchange, Kaiba," then Kemo looked back down at me, "Now it's time to go back to the dungeon where you belong." I turned back towards my brother, pleading that he would suddenly remember who I was and come and rescue me.

"Nii-sama! Please! Don't let him take me!" Seto shook his head.

"It's strictly business, Mokuba, don't take it to heart. After all, business is the last thing you'll want to get your emotions mixed up with." I struggled to break away and run towards my brother, but Seto had already gotten up to leave the room, and I was being moved out of the room myself in an opposite direction. I yelled and yelled, but it was like I was invisible.

The next thing I knew, Kemo had dragged me into an empty room and thrown me to the ground. "Now runt, I'd like your new friends." I looked around the room, shaking in fear of what was to come. Low growls could be heard from every dark corner and three bull dogs inched towards me, appearing from the dark corners of the room. "Don't worry, they won't bite… much." Kemo instantly disappeared, but the preying dogs remained.

I got up and tried to make a run for the door, but the dogs were too fast. I wasn't going to make it; they were going to rip me apart piece by piece! I tripped over my own nervous feet and fell to the ground, twisting around and putting my arms over my face.

The first dog lunged forward and grabbed my arm by the muzzle, I cried out in pain, just as another bite had sunk into my leg. I pushed and pulled, until after much pain and opened wounds, I had managed to break out. I got back onto my feet and noticed a familiar sword case lying on the ground. I took it up without another thought, and killed each dog, one slash at a time.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead when I was finished; that was a close one. That was almost too close of a close one. I was so glad it was over, even though I had gashes and cuts all down my arm and leg. That wasn't the only pain I felt, because I was smacked over the head as well.

I twisted around to find a very annoyed Joan standing behind me, tapping her foot. "What on earth do you think you're doing?" I blinked for a moment, trying to understand what I was seeing.

"What do you mean? I was being chased down by dogs! What did you expect?" Joan snatched away the sword from my hand and examined it. Her face went sour.

"Ew! You got blood all over it! Thanks a lot, Mokuba. First you take my sword, then you get blood all over it. How rude." Joan started wiping the blade against a large rock, trying to swipe away the blood.

"Are you insane? I could've died! And what are you doing in my dream?"

"Yeah, thanks again for taking away my only ticket out of here," Joan stated quite plainly, "And I told you before, this is the Shadow Realm. It plays on your fears and nightmares when you least expect it. P.S: That's real blood right there." I looked down at my arm and realized both my leg and arm was bleeding. I growled with frustration; I was resembling more and more as some sort of metal alchemist as the day went on and it annoyed me.

I sighed, this wasn't turning out well at all. If there was anything I hated more, it was thinking someone was a jerk, then not thinking they were a jerk, and then realizing they had always been a jerk all along. This was turning out to be almost as miserable as being locked up in a dungeon at Pegasus's castle.

What had I done to deserve this?

* * *

**A/N:** _I know what you're all thinking. I'm supposed to have a more serious tone to my chapter titles for Captivity(after all, Falling Short is the only thing that should get the quirky titles) But I simply had to. I'm hoping you guys didn't think it to be too odd, but if you do, just know to send all complaints to Rena Redhead(she was the one that came up with the idea to sick dogs on a poor 11 year old child) And I thought, well, it's the Shadow Realm, which means anything goes. So here I went! By the way Rena, that was your big surprise. Hope you liked it! As well as the rest of my lovely readers. Have a swell time!_

_P.S: Did anyone catch the Full-Metal Alchemist reference I threw in there? I hope you did. Gosh, I love Full-Metal Alchemist. I wonder why I haven't referenced before in the past 73 stories I've written... odd..._


	9. Chapter 9: From Beyond The Realm

Journey maker: Thanks for your review! I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Kukki Boo: Yeah, I did kinda have the name of the show in there, didn't I? I suppose I was just worried no one would get it and then be like 'WHAT IS GOING ON??' or something like that. But I tend to over analyze things like that… a lot. Thanks for the review!

InTheShadowOfSignificance: Thanks a lot for all your kind and descriptive compliments! I do agree that I was a little mixed up with Mokuba's character, I noticed I was throwing in 'mean' a lot and I do say 'the look on so and so's face' a lot. But I can never find another way to put it… I guess I just need to work on being a better writer then. I was a little confused with some of the chapter as I was writing it, but I do apologize. If you thought that was believable, just check out what else I've done with him! Thanks for the review!

Starlight Luster: Oh Joan, will we ever know whether you care or not? I mean, you probably don't. But we can still believe! Mokuba is certainly cute enough to convert anyone to being nice. I was thinking of putting Granpa in here, and putting in some funny stuff, but I wasn't able to. I think this story is a little too intense/depressing to be able to do that. The only humor you'll probably find here is quite morbid, but still pretty funny. Thanks for the review!

AmePiper: Dude, that sucks! I'm so sorry to hear that you're sick! I hope you're feeling better now!(or that you'll feel better soon) Cause that just blows. Dude, if you stopped reviewing, I would know the world was ending(which would be pretty good, considering then I could get a head start on getting on a spaceship out of this place) But not a second before mourning over your sudden dislike for my stories, of course! I'd like to say more, but I really want to get this chapter up and I'm quite tired myself. I promise my review reply in Falling Short will be much better, thanks again for your review!

Rena Redhead: There is so much I wish to say to you, and so much that probably shouldn't be in print so I'll just stick with saying and not put down any writing. That was random… ignore that. Anyways, I'm sure you only liked chapter 6 and thought it was the best just because there was child abuse in it. Although you should really be anticipating what other child abuse scenes I'm planning on throwing in here. And I also have to say that I think chapter 7, or the first chapter in the Shadow Realm has to be one of my favorites. I think the introduction tape has to be one of the funniest things I have ever made(besides the whole Seto line with "Crap! My Blue Eyes!") But yeah, for sure. Oh yes, and the reality is, your are some creepster who enjoys hurting small children. But that's okay, cause I am too. I love you, and loved all your reviews, and I am proud of you for catching up. Now I must post this chapter before I explode from excitement. Thanks for the reviews!

Chapter 9: From Beyond The Realm

Well, it was official. I had no idea where I was. The only assumption I could really make was that wherever I was, it was very black. Although, at this point, waking up to find yourself in a very dark place really couldn't surprise me anymore. I walked along, not sure where I was, but getting an eerie feeling all the same. Then I started hearing noises. As I listened more closely, I started to make them out as words. There were… people, talking.

I followed the noise, making sure to follow the voices wherever they went. If there were people, there might be a possibility of them telling me where I was. I saw a white light up ahead. Upon seeing the light, I felt an enormous amount of happiness. I didn't even know whether or not it would actually lead me to the voices I had been hearing, or if it was even something to be running towards.

But these things didn't come to mind, I simply ran towards it until the whiteness completely consumed me, and the images started to formulate and settle. Looking around, I found that I was floating in the air. I didn't have time to ponder how this was possible, because my mouth dropped at the sight I saw from below.

It was Pegasus. Not only that, but it was my brother too, dueling one another on this brilliantly positioned dueling arena. At first, I was fairly confused as to what was going on. Pegasus and Seto? What had happened? I let myself hover down a little more closely to the battle field, leaning more towards my brother's side than Pegasus's. Pegasus was bellowing one of his sketchy laughs; even in this sort of ghost form, it still gave me the creeps.

"Oh Kaiba-boy, it's truly entertaining to watch your face darken with every blow I insinuate upon your monsters!" Pegasus said in a glorified voice, "Does this mean you are truly accepting your defeat?" Seto seethed with anger and frustration.

"The duel's not over yet, and it's my move!" Seto yelled back. On the outside, he was attempting to appear strong and confident. But I knew I was the only one that could see right through that; even from where I stood a couple feet away, I could see him shaking. It was the first time in my life that I had ever seen him so… vulnerable. I was still confused as to what was going on.

Seto withdrew a card and looked at it, he winced a little. It wasn't the card he needed. It was obvious to see from any stand point, even Pegasus had caught eye of it. Seto wasn't doing well at all. Pegasus's obnoxious Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon giggled and bounced up and down on the field. On the other side of the field stood the normal Blue-Eyes White Dragon, but at the moment it looked less powerful than it usually did.

"Oh come now Kaiba-boy, there's no need to look so grim," Pegasus stated, "After all, losing this duel will only mean that you have lost your only chance at saving your baby brother." I gasped, now I knew what was going on. Pegasus had used me to get my brother to duel him. I glided down and stood behind my brother, feeling shameful for putting my own brother in such a tight situation. He was doing this all… for me.

"Shut up Pegasus! The duel isn't over yet!"

"Why not just accept the fact that your brother's soul will forever remain in my possession, don't you think it'll save you the grief?"

"That's enough, Pegasus! I end my turn." Pegasus grinned.

"I suppose that is all you can do, isn't it?" Pegasus withdrew his own card from his deck.

"I play the magic card, Shine Palace, which increase my Toon Dragon's attack by 500 points!" Seto gritted his teeth. The Toon's muscles inflated, and somehow grew mini volcanoes on each muscle. It flexed it's arms like a champion, and I was shaking my head with disapproval. What kind of person would make the Blue-Eyes White Dragon into such a weird cartoon?

"You know what that means, Kaiba. My joyful little Toon is about to put your Dragon out of business," Pegasus said.

"As if, Pegasus. The Blue-Eyes White Dragon is one of the most powerful monsters in the game."

"And now it's about to be beaten by it's Toon counterpart. This shall be a glorious day indeed, now attack my Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon! Show Kaiba what's what!" Pegasus held out his index finger, and the Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon sucked in air before firing a light purple blast towards Seto's Blue Eyes.

Seto reacted almost instantly with the command of the attack, throwing his hand forward at the card he had placed face down, "Not so fast! I activate Negate Attack!" Seto flipped the card over and revealed the card he had named. The blast disappeared out of thin air, just before hitting Seto's Blue-Eyes.

I cheered happily. "Go Nii-sama! That's what I'm talking about!" But as I took a closer look, I could tell that he was still anxious and tense. He might've deflected the attack, but he wasn't in the clear yet. I started to hear talking again, but no one appeared to be moving their mouths. I looked over at Seto and into his intense face. The surroundings became black again, the only things that remained were my brother and I.

'I bought some time, but I won't be able to block that Toon Dragon's attack again. I have to destroy that thing now,' That's when I realized I was in Seto's head, that I was hearing the very thoughts he was thinking. 'Otherwise, not only will I have lost this duel, but I'll lose my only chance at getting my brother's soul back.'

"Nii-sama…" I said in a quiet voice, touched by my brother's thoughts and feelings. He did care about me… he was trying to win this very duel to try and save me. I felt like the biggest jerk alive for ever thinking such terrible thoughts about him before. I walked towards him, my heart aching to call out to my brother, to help him out in some way. I held out my hand in his direction, letting my body become one with his.

'I have to become one with my deck,' Seto thought, his hand reaching out for the top card of his deck, just as mine did in unison with him, 'For the both of us.' Seto swiftly withdrew the top card on his deck and slammed it onto the panel in front of him.

"I activate Shadow Spell!"

Chains from every direction flew out and wrapped around the Toon's body, keeping him from being able to move. It struggled a bit, but it knew as well as I that it wasn't about to escape.

"Your dragon loses 700 attack points and is no longer able to attack," Seto boldly stated, I was jumping up and down with excitement, anticipating Seto's next command. "Now, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, White Lightning Attack!" It was the most glorious phrase in the world, and that Toon was just about to find out how powerful it was too.

The Blue-Eyes sent the blast flying through the air, and destroyed the Toon; causing it to vanish into thin air. I smirked with pride, looking over at Pegasus to see the look on his face. It wasn't a pleasant one, that was for sure.

"How dare you destroy my toon! Surely you will pay for what you have done soon enough," Pegasus said, "Your Blue-Eyes White Dragons mean so much to you, don't they? As creator of Duel Monsters, I'm truly touched by your devotion, Kaiba-boy." I crossed my arms and nodded with pride. That's my brother. But when I turned to look back at my brother, a pained look on his face remained.

"Pegasus, you should realize now that nothing will stop me from saving my brother, not even destroying my own Blue-Eyes." I felt even more ashamed for the thoughts I had. Seto had been out here all this time, fighting for me, fighting for my soul. How did I repay him? By thinking he was a jerk, and criticizing what he had done.

"Oh, but the fun is just beginning, Kaiba, believe me!" The duel continued, but it seemed Seto was on the losing end. Pegasus had soon after that captured Seto's second Blue-Eyes, and had even tricked him into infecting his deck with a virus. I watched with horror as my brother's life points began to deplete more and more with every turn.

It wasn't long before Seto was down to his last move. I didn't know whether I could watch anymore, but I knew I had to. Seto drew another card, his was dark once more with despair.

'I don't have any moves left…' Seto said sadly, 'All I can do is this.' Seto activated Monster Reborn to bring his Saggi the Dark Clown. Pegasus chuckled at the sight of this.

"You're down to your last move, and this is what you come up with? Truly shameful, Seto Kaiba, I almost expected more from you. But I suppose that's your only option considering what the virus has done to your deck." Seto was staring straight into Pegasus's face, but his heart was pleading for mercy.

"Mokuba… I tried my very best." My body tensed at the sound of my name being spoken. I looked up at him, my eyes brimming with tears that yearned to finally be set free. My brother's soul was bleeding from the inside out.

"And your best failed him!" Pegasus stated, before commanding his duel monster to attack and finish Seto off. But I didn't care, I ran towards Seto once more, latching myself onto his arm and hugging him tightly.

"Please Nii-sama, don't be sorry! You're the greatest big brother in the world!" Pegasus's Bikuribox launched itself towards Seto's clown, his scythe readied in his arms.

"Forgive me Mokuba… I am so sorry," Seto said in a quiet voice, closing his eyes as the Bikuribox took three swipes at Seto's monster and destroyed it in an instant. I shook my head, keeping my eyes on my brother at all times.

"No… please don't say that. You have nothing to forgive… you're the best," My voice was quivering, I floated back up and in front of his face, placing my hands on his shoulders. "If only you could see me once… you would know it's okay. That I… love you, and don't blame you for any of this." But Seto was looking right through me, right at Pegasus. I wasn't able to be seen.

"It looks like there are no more cards you can play, therefore you lose, Kaiba!" Pegasus said, the holograms shut off and the duel had finished. "I'm sure you are as aware as I am that you did not only lose the duel, but you have lost your only chance at saving your little brother. You failed him." I wanted to yell at Pegasus to shut up, but my concern remained with my brother only. He looked so hurt, there was so much pain in his eyes. I continually tried to communicate with him in some way, by hugging him, and calling out to him, but it simply wasn't possible.

"But don't worry, Kaiba, I'll spare you the agony of going on in this world without him," I twisted my head around and saw Pegasus reach into his coat pocket to pull out an empty duel card, "This is the final fate of his soul."

"What?" Seto asked, looking up. I wasn't sure what was going on either, but with the mention of souls I figured out that Pegasus was going to send Seto to the Shadow Realm.

"No… NO!" I yelled, "Nii-sama! You have to get out of here! Run!" I pushed and shoved, but my hands would go through him. I begged and pleaded, but Seto couldn't hear me. Pegasus's eye glowed a bright yellow, and shot out towards Seto. "NOOO!" I called, closing my eyes as the light became so unbearable I could no longer see. Seto yelled out in pain and anguish.

"NII-SAMA!" My eyes shot open, and I found a worried face standing over me. I was shocked to find that the face belonged to Joan, and that suddenly I was back in the Shadow Realm once again. My heart was beating at a tremendous rate, and I wasn't totally sure what was going on, but it was a little comforting to see that Joan cared. It took my a while, but I also realized that she had been holding me up by holding onto both my arms with her hands. The instant I saw this and looked up, Joan frowned.

"Oh, so you are alive," Joan dropped me to the ground.

"Hey! What the heck was that for!?" I complained, sitting back up and rubbing the part of my head that had hit the ground in the last second.

"Darn, I was almost sure you were dead there too. You were out cold for a while, and I thought you were dead cause it didn't seem like you were breathing. I was shaking you to make sure, but I bet that was the reason you woke up, right?" I sat up and scratched my head. I really didn't know what she was talking about.

"Why did you want me to be dead?"

"That would've been my one ticket out then. Remember? We talked about this; you die, I get outta here for good."

"If you want me dead so much, why not just kill me yourself?" Joan got back onto her feet and was brushing off the dirt on her armor around the knees.

"Cause, I can't, technically. You see, I can't kill you, just like you can't kill me. The only way we can be killed is by other Gakuto. On the other hand you can be killed by both the wandering soul and the Gakuto following it." I rolled up onto my feet as well and gave a fake smile.

"Yippee."

"Well, there's no time to waste," Joan said, trying to hurry me along. I eyed her.

"What's the big hurry?"

"You just reminded me that if you die, I get out of here. So the sooner we move, the faster we'll run into someone that'll kill you!" Joan said it in such a way that had erased all past thoughts of her ever really caring for me. Not that I needed anyone to care for me. But my mind couldn't think about such things. As always, my brother was preoccupying my mind.

This time it was different, though. Instead of wandering where he was, instead of thinking he had abandoned me for the dead, I felt total guilt and shame. How could I have thought such things about the only person in this whole universe that ever cared for me? My brother didn't hate me, he never hated me. He was the only person in the world that loved me.

I stopped for a moment, and looked up at the starless sky. The look on my brother's face just as he was accepting defeat and total failure was imprinted in my mind. I wished it hadn't ended up this way. I wandered where he was or how he was doing, knowing he was probably walking amongst the shadows as well as I.

Hopefully the shadows wouldn't consume his heart, like it had almost consumed mine.

* * *

**A/N:** _And so another day ends, and so does another chapter. I'm sure you were all anticipating this chapter oh so very much. I was, that's for sure. I've been meaning to get this chapter down for many days now, but I found that school is going a little worse than I first thought, so I have to spend more time studying and less time writing(it is a sad day indeed) But hey, it's the weekend, so hopefully I'll get another chapter up or two in this tiny span of time. Thanks for all your reviews!_


	10. Chapter 10: New Found Light

InTheShadowOfSignificance: It's true. The show didn't really like going into much detail about the Kaiba Brothers period. Even the Noah arch, which is about as Kaiba-y as you can get, I felt, didn't go into as much detail as it could've. But maybe that's because I tend to love re-writing that season to make it only about the Kaiba brothers. Hahaha, anyways, thanks for the review!

Kukki Boo: Actually that whole thing actually happened in the series... sort of. It's in the second part of the Seto duel against Pegasus. Check out my author's note, it goes more into detail about what I'm talking about. Thanks for the review!

Journey Maker: Oh man is that true. And what a psychotic SOB he is indeed. Thanks for the review!

AmePiper: My poor Ame: I always feel like you're in pain, and yet you always find the strength to review. My hero:3 I'm surprised to hear that the last chapter was your favorite(although I will admit it was my most creative in a way, I don't think anything can be the Shadow Realm introductory tape though) Actually, if you check out my author's note at the bottom, there was something like this that happened in the series(I just sort of turned it into something that was awesome) Check it out and you'll know what I mean! Thanks for the review!

Starlight Luster: Oh Saint Joan, what will we do with you? I like Joan, in a strange way. She reminds me of another OC I use to associate with a lot. I kinda miss that kid. Actually it's a proven fact that Mokuba's torture WILL never end. Hahaha, thanks for the review!

Chapter 10: New Found Light

Aimlessly walking. That's all we ever did in this place. That's all we really could do in this place. It made everything seem so much more… meaningless. But that might've just been my depression setting in. The Shadow Realm had a knack of doing that to you. I bet even the happiest of people could get depressed in a place like this. I hated it here.

We had been walking for a while now, mainly in silence. I had grown tire of telling Joan stories of my brother and describing what he was like. I don't know whether Joan cared to hear it or not, but it didn't really matter. I just didn't want to get sucked into a spiral of hate towards my brother again like I almost had before.

When I looked up from staring at the ground, I noticed Joan had stopped walking. This was a site to see, considering Joan never seemed to get tired even though she was walking with all that weight from her armor. She had her hand gripped on the sword by her side, staring off into the distance.

"What's going on?" Joan was silent, she looked very serious_._

"There's something out there coming towards us." I turned my attention towards where she was looking but didn't really see anything. I trusted her statement all the same. Joan knew this place better than I did, and she looked serious enough for me to believe her.

"Is it dangerous?"

"I'm not sure." I squinted my eyes and took a couple steps forward, looking right at what Joan was looking at. I was surprised to see a faint figure off in the far distance. I continued walking towards it, and the image of the figure grew bigger and bigger. I stopped for a moment when I realized whom I was looking at.

"It's him." I said quietly to myself before breaking out into a run. I could hear Joan calling out for me from behind, asking me what I saw and where I was going. I didn't answer her, I just kept running. I was so happy, I was barely able to breathe as I jogged towards the figure.

As I came closer and closer, more features became evident on the being. The man was tall, lanky, with straight brown hair, and a confident stride that was automatically turned on whenever he walked. There was only one person I could think of with all those features at hand, and that was my brother.

I kept running faster and faster, I could barely contain my excitement. In the back of my head, I was wondering whether or not my dream or bizarre vision had been real or not. But I could care less now that I could see my brother, now that I was so close to embracing him that I could just…

I stopped. As I had stopped, so did he. We were still a good distance away, but I knew better. There was a smile on his face, but it was a different smile. One that was unknown to me. Tension was flowing across what had become our arena. My happiness was gone in an instant, and I went into a defense position. By this time, Joan had finally caught up to me and walked up to my side. She looked confused.

"Hello Mokuba… aren't you happy to see me?" I remained silent and focused. "I came here to save you. We'll find our way out of this place together." My eyes narrowed.

"Your not my brother." The Seto imposter gave a low chuckle. That was when I realized that this wasn't just any Seto imposter. This was the same man whom had pretended to be Seto before on the island. The one whom was trying to trick everyone into thinking that my brother had died and that somehow he was the ghost of him. I was thankful that I had the ability to see right through him.

"Oh? Is that so?"

"You're that… clown… thing." He might've looked like my brother, but I knew he wasn't (although the dark slashes down his face was a partial give away) But otherwise I would've sensed that it wasn't him by his cold dark eyes. Sure, they looked practically the same in every aspect, but the one thing that stood out the most was when I would look into his eyes, I saw a tiny spark of warmth. The last thing I had to remember what my brother was when we were younger.

"Actually, I'm your brother's evil side."

"…Yeah, I didn't believe any of that crap you were pulling before. What makes you think I'll believe the crap you're saying now?" The evil Seto reached over behind his back and when his hand became visible again, he revealed a chain saw. I nearly fainted at the sight of it. After all that I had been through, being kidnapped, being beaten, beaten starved, and then randomly being attacked by dogs, this… this had to be THEE scariest of all.

"I say we stop talking and get this over with," The evil Seto pulled the string on his chain saw and turned it on. There was a loud buzzing that made my heart race faster. I turned to Joan out of desperation.

"I hope you don't think I'm just going to jump in there and save you from a psycho with a chain saw." I gritted my teeth with annoyance. This wasn't the time to being messing around. The evil Seto was inching closer and closer to me with each passing second.

"FINE. But don't I get any kind of weapon? Isn't there something I can use to defend myself?!" I eyed Joan's sword that was secured around her waist, "Can I borrow that?" Joan already looked defensive as if I had attempted to steal it away.

"No way! Not after you got blood on it!"

"Well don't I get any kind of weapon to use?!" Joan looked down and started digging in her pockets. A couple seconds later she pulled out something tiny and tossed it over to me. It was some sort of… something, wrapped in cloth. The rumbling of the chain saw was coming closer, so I quickly unwrapped it to find… a dagger.

"A… dagger?"

"Not just that, a rusty dagger!" I couldn't believe this. I was going to die, that was for sure. Not only that, but I was going to die with a rusty dagger in my hands. Perfect, just perfect. "You better look out, cause here he comes." When I twisted around, the evil Seto had already lunged forward with the chain saw in hand and tried to attack me. I swiftly leapt to the left of it and had an open shot to give him a slash or two.

I moved quickly to carry out my blow, when the evil Seto turned in my direction and I saw his face. Flashbacks and memories instantly flooded my mind and slowed me down. The evil Seto's face looked too much like Seto for my mind to register, and suddenly my mind was short circuiting with memories. It had slowed me down enough for me to almost get sliced in half. I wasn't even sure how I managed to dodge that one when I looked up to find I had lost a slice of my hair from his last attempt.

"You know, I almost feel bad for you, sitting down there with your dagger and not even being able to hit me," the evil Seto laughed in my face, "You might've bee able to dodge my first two attacks, but don't worry, your luck is going to run out very soon, young Kaiba." I had started slowly getting back into fighting position as he had been talking.

"Yeah? I'd be pretty messed up too if I was some kind of clown and had to tell people I was some evil spirit of my brother's to get through the day," I jumped back into the game and started towards him. Skillfully avoiding another forceful slash, I found another opening for attack. But instead, I found myself going through the same difficultly I had before. Memories would flash through-out my brain and freeze my body.

I received a kick to the stomach and flew through the air to the ground. The evil Seto made his way over to me as I struggled to get up. He kicked me down once more and kept me on the ground by pushing his foot on my stomach.

"What's the matter, tough guy?" The evil Seto asked, "Can't hurt your big brother?" I growled in anger and tried to pull out his hold on me.

"You're not my big brother."

"And you're never going to see him again, either. I'm going to make sure you die before you ever find your way out of this place. You'll be my ticket out of here." The evil Seto lifted the chain saw in the air, "I'm sorry things had to end this way. Have a nice after life." He was about to swing when I twisted my arm and stabbed him in the leg using the dagger in my hand. The evil Seto cried out in pain and I pushed out from under his foot and turned to run away.

That was my plan. That's all I could do. I just needed to run. I couldn't fight, therefore I wasn't going to win. I needed to get out of there as soon as possible. And yet, somehow, I had a feeling something would go wrong. And the way I was violently jerked back onto the ground after being grabbed by the hair, I felt maybe this had to be it. Maybe it was time for me to lose.

I turned my head to see a bloody foot by my face, and looked up at the evil Seto, the dagger was in his right hand. The chain saw had been placed on the ground somewhere else.

"You know kid, I can't just kill you. I'm going to have to give you a fair beating." How did I not see this coming? What was it about me that made people feel like I had to be beaten before I could go on living? Maybe it was just the way I was that made people feel that way towards me, or possibly how I looked. I'm sure the long hair didn't help.

Then it began. First he began with several kicks to the side, and after a while, moved on to the punching. He was enjoying, I could tell. And I was in a spiral of pain. Somewhere he started attacking me with the dagger that he had easily taken from my hands after the first couple kicks. I was in so much pain, and it wouldn't stop. It would only get worse and worse. I wanted it to stop.

I just wanted to die. I knew he wouldn't stop, I knew he enjoyed watching this, and it only made me want to die more. I was tired of being in pain, I wanted it all to just stop. I couldn't handle it anymore. I had never wanted death so much as I had in that moment. If I died, it would finally end. It would be done. I still had the incredible desire to see my brother, at least one last time, but now even that didn't seem as desirable. I just wanted to stop feeling so much pain.

"Come on little Kaiba, where's your spark? I beat you up, make you bleed, and yet you do nothing?" I wasn't going to say anything. I didn't exactly have the strength to say anything, but I knew that speaking would only cause me more pain. It was sad how much I knew about abuse and the abusers themselves, the things they thrived on.

"This is just sad, you're just going to give up?" Silence. The beatings had seized for a moment. The pain was beginning to calm, but only at a very slow rate. I was still in an enormous amount of pain and would probably remain that way for a long time. Then I heard the loud rumbling of the chain saw as it was started up once more. Finally, it was time to die. I wasn't going to move, I wasn't going to run away. I just hoped by God he had good aim because I was done with this_._

"Well kid, I can't say I'm going to miss you. But your time ran out a very long time ago." The worst of it all was that I agreed with him. My eyes remained closed as I laid there helplessly in a mess. I didn't want to watch him kill me. I just hoped he wouldn't get creative and decide to cut me up piece my piece.

The chain saw got louder and louder. My body flinched, naturally, since it could sense the chain saw was coming closer and closer to impact. I was actually getting scared. But death would be peaceful. Much more peaceful than this. I prepared to let myself go.

Suddenly there was a loud sound that was made. I couldn't make out what it was, it was just the loudest thing I had ever heard. There were some more loud sounds, like something banging against some sort of metal, and the soft whimpers of pain from another person. A third party, perhaps?

I opened my eyes and looked up to see Joan, standing in front of me, a sword had been lunged through her stomach. My eyes shifted to another area and saw the evil Seto on the ground, unconscious. Joan was very quiet though, and she was swaying a bit, her hands were shaking by her sides. Blood began to seep down the sides of her armor. I got up and walked over to her.

"…Joan?" I was almost afraid to ask what had happened, I looked into her face and to my surprise… she looked calm. "Joan… I don't… what happened?"

"I-I…" Joan fell backwards and onto the ground. I immediately ran to her side and shook her.

"Joan! Joan! Wake up!" Joan opened her eyes and looked over at me. It was the strangest thing because I had never seen her eyes so… pure. She smiled at me, in a way that seemed familiar but I didn't know what it was from.

"I couldn't… let him hurt you, now could I?" I shook my head. I was confused. No, I was beyond confused. What was going on?

"But… I…. You…" I appeared to be at a loss of words as well. She placed her hand on mine and patted it softly.

"There are some things that can't be explained in many words… All I know is, you and your brother need to be together…" Without my knowledge up till this point, I had started to float in the air. I looked up to see a blinding white beam pull me up into the sky. I looked back down at Joan one last time. She had this assuring smile on her face like… she knew this was going to happen all along. That her death had been my ticket out of here, just as mine had been hers.

It all came together then and there. I had to say something to her. A thank you of some sort. But I couldn't find the right words, things had been going too fast and I was still trying to pull myself out of the 'I'm going to die' and the 'I want to die' mind frame. All I could spit out was, "Thank you." Joan smiled and nodded and the light consumed me.

Then everything went white.

* * *

_**A/N:**__ So the ending was kind of lame, but the chapter was… interesting to say the least, right? I hope so. Sometimes I'm just never sure. But I wanted to put something up before I posted yet another not Captivity or Falling Short story. Which I should get up very quickly after this. By the way, I had no idea my rant story would get so much love and affection. Seriously, that was amazing. You guys make me feel so loved:3 Anyways, I'm sorry I've been getting a little distracted lately with my one-shots, but thanks for reading and reviewing all the same!_

_P.S: I just thought I'd throw this out there, the last chapter was actually sort of tied into something that actually happened in the real show. If anyone remembers the second part (I believe it's episode 27) in the Seto vs. Pegasus duel, where Seto keeps thinking about Mokuba, and there's this one part where Mokuba appears and draws the card with Seto? Yeah, last chapter was supposed to be in reference to that. Just thought I'd throw that one out there._

_Gosh, I need to stop ending my chapters awkwardly. :p_


	11. Chapter 11: The Beginning of The End

Starlight Luster: Hahaha, gotta love that abridged series. I try to stray away from referencing that, though, simply because I feel like that would be stealing that wonderful man's idea. Oh, wow, you thought Joan was a cool character? That's so sweet! I didn't know that. I mean, not that she's a failure, but still! That's nice to hear. Mokuba IS a really easy target. Sometimes I just wanna hug that kid and squeeze him to death... he has that effect on you. Anyways, thanks for your reviews and enjoy the chapter!

Kukki Boo: Yeah, usually a story that goes according to the actual show can be rather boring, but there are definitely a lot of periods of time that were not touched on and I could take advantage of, so I went with that. I mean, I think there were only about four chapters that were really according to the episodes. And a lot of the time I took it and made it more original. Or maybe I think of myself too highly. I don't know, but I'm glad you like my endings and my story in general all the same. Thanks for all your reviews!

journey maker: Of course Mokuba didn't die! Hahaha, a little secret about me is that, well, I can't kill off the Kaiba brothers. I simply can't, it's like against my code. Maybe one day I'll write a story where I'll kill one of them, but that would really suck. I would hate it and probably cry while writing it. Anyhow, thanks for your reviews!

Falling Smoke: Nice! Gotta love the stories that get readers to read more stories;) I know, I love Mokuba too! He's like my child:) He's so cute, I just love him so much. People usually think I like Seto more because I tend to write more stories centered more around him, but that's not true. Mokuba is usually the underlying main guy that I want to emphasize. He's so awesome... yeah, okay, I swear I'm done ranting about him. It's totally fine that you didn't review every chapter, I definitely understand where you're coming from. Oh, dude, I know, my first stories fail. But do keep in mind I was 12 when I wrote practically the first 20 or 30 of them. If I had the time/energy, I would delete probably most of my stories up there, but I only keep them up there because I have switched computers since then and those are my only copies saved(plus, sometimes I like to re-read them from time to time, just to get a good laugh:p) Yes, I have always wanted to re-write the Noah ark, check out my author's note at the end of this chapter too. Now it appears as though I am ranting, so I think I will let you go and read the chapter. Thanks for all the reviews!:D

AmePiper: Really? I've improved?(again?o.o That's the plot twist right there) You're just saying my writing has matured because I have pretty much no jokes in here, am I right?(except for REALLY morbid ones, that is) But still, thank you very much! Like I've always believed, you know my writing better than I know myself most likely. Did you know you've been reading my stories for practically four years now? No joke, I checked a while back. I'm glad my stories can save you from life. Life sucks, I'm glad I can write to keep life from killing me. Joan is actually my conformation name, which if you're not catholic, you won't see the importance in(well, even if you are catholic, it's hard to see the importance) But still, I love my Saint Joan of Arc, she's awesome. I hope you cheer up soon, and thanks for all your reviews!

MythCreatorWriter: I'm going to try and respond to each of your reviews in all one thing, I'm sure you won't mind. Mokuba's love for Seto is definitely what keeps me going. The funny part is, I use to believe that younger siblings were supposed to be like that. Um, yeah, WRONG. I definitely could add more variety to pretty much all my sentences, my brain likes to record every word I use, so when I re-use a word, believe me, I feel bad and like, rawr, annoyed. For the shadow realm, at first, I was going to go in that direction(experiencing bad experiences, watching bad memories over and over again) but I felt that was too boring. I LOVED that introduction video. I think that's the funniest thing I've done in a while, I really like that. Yeah, the Shadow Realm probably could be more painful, I mean, hello, substitute for death. But, eh, I felt I should give the kid a break(just kidding) Hahaha. Seto has a lot of shadows, the poor guy. I should write a story just about Seto's demons. That poor kid is so emotionally messed up. I liked that scene too, with Mokuba fighting but not being able to hurt the guy. I don't know if anyone else did, but did anyone think of that creepy murder movie with the guy and the chain saw and the white mask? That's what I thought of, I think that's why I gave him a chain saw too. Anyways, thanks for your reviews!

InTheShadowOfSignificance: No problem about the short review, it's all good. I'm glad you liked the ending, I never like my endings. This included. But we'll see what you think, you're usually quite forward about what you think and constructive with your criticism. Thanks for your reviews!

Rena Redhead: Okay, so I'm going to apologize ahead of time for the shortness of this reply, just because I have a runny nose and my brothers are being jerks, and I've had to write uber long review replies for everyone else. Plus, you see me on a day to day basis, so I'm sure I can review reply here and there IRL(teehee, computer talk is my life) So you thought him not being able to attack was powerful? Nice. You think too highly of me, my friend, much too highly. I kind of wanted Joan to be Niomi for the longest time... but oh well. It was less awkward this way. I'm not really sure what else to say and I can't think with my brothers being idiots, so hopefully my next review reply will be longer and more efficient. Thanks for all your reviews! You're my special little girl:)

Before I begin this epic new chapter of "Captivity," I just wanted to say… wow. I've been waiting for this chapter for a very long time, and now it's here. I get to write it. Episode 41, yes, I know the number. It's my favorite episode and I love it to death. It brings me great joy and pleasure to present to you the very episode that has brought me so much joy through-out the years, written and interpreted for your reading pleasure.

Chapter 11: The Beginning of The End

There were voices, echoing in the distance. Why was this not surprisingly? It seemed like every time anything supernatural happened to me, I would hear voices. I slowly began to open my eyes, and my vision cleared. Bakura was hovering over me, his arms were holding up the upper half of my body. It took me a while to register what was going on, and why I was randomly lying in Bakura's arms, but Yugi's gang of friends ran over and I eventually caught on.

"Hey there little guy! How are you?" Tea asked happily, standing next to me, "How you feeling?"

"I think he's going to be just fine," Bakura stated, nodding reassuringly. I blinked, I still wasn't sure what was going on. I heard Yugi's voice calling from behind them, and suddenly he appeared at of nowhere and stood beside the rest of his friends.

"Mokuba! Thank goodness. It looks like your soul is back where it belongs."

"My… soul?" I brought my hand up to my chest and looked down at it for a long while. Images of Joan dying in front of me flashed through my mind, but only briefly. I looked back up at Yugi. "How exactly… did I get my soul back?"

"Yugi got it back for ya," Joey stated, "He dueled Pegasus and won. You don't need to worry kid, everything's going to be just fine now." The rest of his friends smiled. I wanted to demand a better explanation, to state the fact that there was no way I had risked my own soul in the Shadow Realm as well as Joan's, just to find out that Yugi ended up getting it back just with a duel. That just didn't seem likely.

"That's not…" I tried to get up, but the reality of my situation hit me… hard. I was still pretty out of it, and on top of that, I was still as mangled and starved as I had been before Pegasus had taken my soul. My body felt empty, even with a newly obtained soul at hand.

"Hold on there, bud, you better take it easy for a while. Your soul was in the Shadow Realm for a pretty long time," Tristan warned. Yeah, no kidding. I sighed loudly, and decided I would take up the argument on a better day. Croquet approached Yugi at this point, offering him his prize. My eyes never even looked his way, as did his. It was like we were both invisible people. To think, he had been the very person that had contributed to the nightmare I had been living in. Thankfully it was all over now.

But just then I came to a quick and urgent realization which gave me the sudden strength to jump to my feet without any hesitation.

"Where's my brother?" I demanded, looking around. Yugi and his friends looked over at me.

"Don't worry, he's here somewhere. We just have to find him." That wasn't the answer I was looking for. What if he was gone already? What if he was hurt?

"Good luck doing that, we had a special dungeon for the likes of Kaiba," sneered Croquet. I sprinted forward, shoving Croquet to the side and running down the hall. The others footsteps could be heard running after me, calling after me as I ran.

"Hey! Wait up Mokuba!"

"Yeah! We'll help you!" But I didn't need their help. I didn't need anyone's help. All I needed was to see my brother again. I desperately needed to see him. It seemed like everything that had happened lasted for almost a century, when in reality it had only been a week or two. Or had it even been a week? Time didn't matter, as well as everything else. The only thing that mattered was Seto.

I continued running at a fairly quick pace. My body was beginning to shut down due to obvious reasons, but I forced it to keep functioning. My desire to find my brother was stronger than anything that ever existed, and nothing was going to hold me back now. Nothing was going to…

My leg gave out, and I fell to the ground. I didn't make any indication of pain; I only grunted a bit, before trying to get up once again.

"Mokuba, are you okay?" Yugi asked, walking over to my side and offering my a hand. I shook my head and pushed his hand away.

"I'm fine… I just fell." But when I saw their faces, they didn't look like they believed me. Not that I cared. I pushed myself back up and was ready to start jogging once again to find my brother.

We searched for hours, through every room, through every hallway, and still… no Seto. Even though I believed… the truth was, my heart was beginning to sink. Soon enough, we were no longer inside the castle. We were out in the court yard. The others had to stop and take a rest while I continued on, calling out for my brother.

"Nii-sama! Nii-sama, where are you?" I could hear their gossip; they didn't think we were going to find him. They were pondering whether or not Pegasus had done something with my brother's body while his soul had been taken. I wasn't ready to believe that, not after I had come this far. I yelled louder. "Nii-sama! It's me Mokuba! Tell me you're okay!" Maybe… he wasn't here. Maybe the others were right.

Then there was the sound of giant wooden entrance opening. My hands fell to my sides, as I stared at the door in suspense. The whole court yard became quiet, and we waited. It slowly creaked open, letting a gust of wind flow in. A figure stood in the middle with a brief case in hand and a smile on his face. There he was, my own big brother.

"Nii… Nii-sama!" I yelled running towards him. There was a spark of innocence within him, his smile seemed almost child-like and pure. I saw a piece of his younger self, just a snap shot of the child deep inside Seto just as I had begun running to him. He was slowly making his way towards me and placed his brief case down just before I leapt forward and wrapped my arms around his waist. I squeezed him tightly and buried my face into his stomach. I couldn't believe it.

"Nii-sama… you're here. You're finally here!" The fact that he was in my arms, right then and there, it felt like a miracle. That everything I had survived and suffered through all led up to this one moment; it was worth it all. I didn't even realize I was crying I was so happy. I just felt so... complete. Seto knelt down so that he could look at me face to face, his hands placed promptly on my shoulders. There were so many things I wanted to say, I didn't know where to begin.

"Nii-sama... I didn't know what happened to you, but..." I reached into my shirt and pulled out my locket. I clicked it open and held it out in front of him, "I never stopped thinking of you." And it was true, but the memories of my thinking in the Shadow Realm... the way I felt betrayed, and almost hated Seto, I just tried to keep those negative thoughts at bay and in a place where they could never come out.

"I know, Mokuba, I know," Seto reached into his own shirt and pulled out his locket, holding it out riught next to mine, "I would've risked anything to save you. I fought every battle I could; I didn't care what the consequences were. I just wanted to keep you safe." I smiled for the first time in a very long time. There was gliummer in my brother's eyes and he smiled back at me.

"I know you did, Nii-sama, I know you did..." I paused for a moment, I would never doubt my brother's concern for me every again. "And now we're together again."

"The way it should be. So what do you say, Mokuba? Ready for me to take you home where we both belong?" I nodded proudly.

"You bet." Seto got to his feet and looked on at Yugi and the others.

"Yugi, I want to thank you for what you've done. Mokuba means the world to me and I would've risked anything to save him." I felt the urge to try and correct Seto, telling him of my journeys in the Shadow Realm and the real efforts that were made to get me out of the Shadow Realm, but I decided against it. There would be other times to tell him such things.

"Of course, it was the right thing to do," Yugi stated, nodding. Tea stepped forward and stood beside Yugi.

"Yeah. Besides, you guys are practically meant to be together. You can't say Kaiba, without Mokuba."

"Bad joke, Tea, bad joke." I chuckled a bit, looking up at my older brother and tugging on his sleeve a little to retrieve his attention.

"Can we go home now?" Seto smiled again.

"Of course." He bent down, grabbed his brief case once more, and we were off. It was such a relief knowing we were finally going home, away from this hell-hole of a place. As Seto had said it, back to where we belonged. Thankfully the helicopter wasn't too far off and we had reached it in only a matter of minutes. Of course, it wasn't that long until we heard the others calling for us to come back.

"Kaiba! Wait up!" Seto and I both turned around to see Yugi and his friends running over to us. Joey ran ahead of the rest of them and over to my brother.

"Yo Kaiba, we need a lift back to Domino, could you let us fly wit you?" When I looked back up at my brother's face, his expression had already completely changed from smiling and caring, to cold and annoyed.

"Oh, spare me Wheeler. Go find your own ride." Joey tried coming at Seto with his fist, but was immediately held back by Tristan.

"Come on Kaiba, the least you could do is give us a lift back," Tristan commented, while also keeping a good hold on Joey. I looked over at Yugi, whom was standing off to the side in silence and didn't look like he was going to request to ride with us at all. I frowned, if anyone deserved a ride back, it was Yugi. He was different from the rest of them, and he was willing to try and save me when I was in Kemo's possession. I turned back towards my brother.

"Nii-sama, let them fly with us. They'll never find a way off otherwise."

"Oh, I'm sure if they made a fire signal they could divert someone's attention." I frowned and put my hands on my hips.

"Nii-sama."

"Okay, fine. They can ride with us." Joey jumped in the air with glee.

"I CALL SHOT GUN!" Joey yelled, running over to the helicopter.

"Yeah, no. You're sitting in the back, Mutt." Joey moaned, but said nothing. We all piled into the helicopter, just barely being able to fit everyone in. Seto called me over and request that I sit beside him in the front. I did as he had asked and sat beside him, his arm was placed around my shoulder and hugged me. I smiled once again; it felt so nice to be back in my brother's arms. To have someone actually care about me.

I'm not sure when, but at some point during lift off I had propped myself up against my brother's side and had drifted off to a very deep sleep. Which really wasn't surprising, considering how much I had been through and had little sleep I had gotten through-out the whole experience. I'm not sure how long I was out for, but the next time I awoke, the helicopter was empty and we were back at home.

"Mokuba... come on, Mokuba, it's time to wake up..." My brother's soft voice cooed to me as I slowly began to awaken from my deep slumber. I opened one eye and stared up at him.

"Are... are we home?" I asked, slowly getting up and looking out the window briefly.

"Yeah, we're home. It's going to be okay from now on." And I trusted that it would. I would never doubt my brother's words ever again. He was my brother, my friend, and the only person in the whole world I could really trust. Seto led me out of the helicopter and over to the house. I could barely wait to change into my pajamas and fall asleep in a bed, my bed, in my own house. The idea practically excited me.

The minute we walked in and Seto shut the door, I already began peeling off the shirt I had been wearing for days right then and there. "Oh man, I'm so tired. I can't wait to be able to sleep in my very own bed," I stated, feeling the need to say my thoughts out loud. I threw my shirt on the ground and headed over to the stairway when... "Mokuba...?" I stopped and turned around.

"Yes Nii-sama?" Seto's face was of horror and shock. My facial expression and mind frame completely changed too when seeing this. Was something wrong? "Nii-sama, are you okay? Why do you look like that?"

"Mokuba... what... what did they do to you?" At first I wasn't sure what he was referring to and what could've possibly set this off. But as I took a closer look, it became clear that he was staring at something specific. I looked down to see what he was staring at and was horrified to see my own body.

There were bruises and gashes everywhere, all along my body, my skin was a sickly pale white, and my ribs were sticking out of my prominantly frail and skinny body. I had never seen myself in such bad shape, I could barely recall where each wound had originated from. I looked back up at my brother, speechless. What was I supposed to say?

"What happened? Tell me who did this to you. I need to know what happened." I looked down, away from Seto's gaze, in shame. I didn't want to recall what had happened, or to even explain that did manage to happen. He would never be able to understand, and it wouldn't get him anywhere.

Seto walked over to me and put his hand under my chin, lifting my face up to look at him.

"Mokuba... please. I need to know what happened, I want to know who did this to you." I turned my head away from him and still said nothing. Seto knelt down once again to try and be on my same level, but there would never be a time I would be comfortable telling him. "Please."

"I-I can't. I'm sorry Nii-sama, but I just can't." I thought that would be enougth for him to leave me alone, but he kept at it.

"Just try." I didn't know how to tell him no, so I tried explaining it in a truthful manner. If I was honest, maybe then Seto would understand.

"I don't want to try, and I just... I don't remember. It doesn't matter." I was hoping THEN he would understand. But he continued to try and find out. There was anger in the room, he wanted his revenge.

"Mokuba, it does matter. Someone did this to you and I need to make them pay." I wish I could've told him, but I simply wasn't able to.

"You don't understand..."

"Then help me understand, Mokuba. I want to help you." I couldn't make him understand. No one could possibly understand.

"I..." I was really at a cross road. I didn't know what to do. Nothing I said was working.

"Tell me." His voice was beginning to sound forceful and irritable.

"I..." I was beginning to mentally freak out.

"I need to know." And just like that, I snapped.

"I CAN'T! Okay? I DON'T... no, I WON'T talk about it. It's too... painful. I'm sorry." I had never yelled at my brother in my entire life, and I could tell by his face that he was just as surprised as I was by my actions. I would've liked to tell him... he is my brother, after all, but I simply couldn't push myself into doing so. Thankfully it appeared that Seto wouldn't push anymore as he came over to me and pulled me into a hug. I wrapped my arms around him in return.

"Don't worry Mokuba... you don't have to talk about it. And no one's ever going to hurt you again. I'll always protect you." I wanted to believe him, but after all that had happened... I couldn't. Sometimes things go wrong, and there is a point where one has the ability to get over it, but it is not something that leaves you very quickly. Especially not something like this. These things tend to stay with you for a very long period before you can ever truly feel safe again.

In the end, I'll re-gain my weight, my bruises will heal, my scars will fade... but mentally, emotionally... I don't think I'll ever be the same again. It's sort of like I'll always be held captive; my mind will always wander back and remember my days in imprisonment. The truth is... there are some scars that can never fade. Some things that should never be spoken of again.

If only I had known that this was just the beginning.

* * *

**A/N:** _Hey guys, I'm sorry to say, but this is the ending. Believe me, I know it's not a great ending. I actually didn't think this would be the last chapter until I realized how far I was getting along with such few words, so, yeah, had to happen. But I loved their reunion... I've always loved that episode and being able to write it, wow, I loved it a lot. That was awesome. I want to thank you all for your support, you have all been such great reviewers! I'm sad to say it's over... but I do have a question for whomever it may concern. An idea came to mind earlier today, and I thought, "Hm, maybe I should do a sequel to 'Captivity'" Then I got this idea of the Noah arch, only from Seto's POV, and a lot more Kaiba brothers. But I'm not really sure... because it would be really long and possibly less original since there isn't a lot of off-screen time for those guys. But I want to know what you guys think. I don't mind either way, it's just an idea that came to mind and I remember one reviewer saying I should re-write the Noah arch. Anyhow, sorry for the rant right there, thanks again for all your reviews and I hope you enjoyed the story overall!_


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